nubia Red Magic 8S Pro review

Competition

Although we are many generations into the niche Android gaming smartphone market, it hasn't matured yet, so the choice is somewhat limited. Sure, you can go for regular flagship phones running the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but the thing is, the Red Magic 8S Pro is pretty competitive in terms of pricing as well. You can even argue it's just an affordable flagship. Especially with the sleek new design, which could potentially appeal to non-gamers.

However, neither the camera nor the software experience is flagship-worthy. So if you've exhausted options like the Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup, the OnePlus 11, Xiaomi's 13 series, or even the iQOO 11 and you are dead set on getting a gaming-ready smartphone, then maybe the Asus ROG Phone 6 series will tickle your fancy. That's at least the first real competitor to the Red Magic 8S Pro we can think of.

vivo iQOO 11 • Asus ROG Phone 6D Ultimate • Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro

The vanilla Asus ROG Phone 6 is a nice start but if you want to get closer to the 8S Pro's price tag, then considering the ROG Phone 6D or the 6D Ultimate is a good idea. It runs on a very potent Dimensity 9000+ SoC and Asus' gaming lineup is known for its wide support for HRR gaming and big ecosystem of gaming accessories.

If you can get a hold of one of the few remaining Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro phones on the market, you may also want to consider this one. It has physical pop-up shoulder triggers, powerful hardware, although last year's, and all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a gaming phone.

Verdict

Nubia has plenty of experience with gaming phones at this point and it shows. The OEM knows how to put together a great gaming phone without much fluff. Despite its flaws like not-so-amazing camera experience, awkwardly translated UI and the lack of HDR support, the new 8S Pro is a solid gaming solution.

We still like the design carried over from the 8 Pro and even managed to improve upon cooling. The 8S Pro has by far one of the best, if not the best, cooling solution we've tested. Continuous and strenuous workloads are a non-issue for the 8S Pro, so long gaming sessions shouldn't be a problem too. Display is great and battery life is impressive, to say the least, especially considering that the cell has to power up the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. And, of course, the gaming-centric features are, as always nice and thoughtful for the better part.

Pros

• Unique flat, all-metal design.
• Large and fast 120Hz OLED panel, the UD selfie camera is inconspicuous.
• Unrivaled battery life, fast charging.
• Plenty of gaming-oriented features, including pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers.
• Flexible and well-executed external display and peripherals gaming experience.
• One of the best internal cooling solutions around; the fan helps a lot.
• Nice sounding stereo speakers.
• Notably improved image quality on the main camera compared to past models.

Cons

• The internal fan can be quite noisy.
• Ultrawide camera quality is not very good, while the selfie camera quality is downright bad.
• The software is still plagued by awkward English translations from Chinese.