nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review

Competition

The competition at this point is rather limited. The Red Magic 9 Pro is in a particularly comfortable spot given that there are no other strictly gaming-oriented smartphones on the market, and there are even fewer phones running on the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.

But even with plenty of gaming-oriented rivals, competing with the Red Magic 9 Pro would still be hard. The global starting pricing for the entry-level 12GB/256GB 9 Pro is $649/£579/€649, or in other words - no changes compared to the Red Magic 8S Pro.

Aside from this year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips, there's the recently released iQOO 12, which is rocking the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and is also marketed as providing performance fit for a gaming phone. It's a slightly pricier handset but offers a superior display, albeit with a punch-hole, nicer cameras, faster charging and surprisingly similar thermals. In fact, the iQOO 12 seems to maintain more stable clock speeds, ensuring smoother gameplay. And it completes a full 3DMark Wild Life stress test without overheating - something which we can't say for the Red Magic 9 Pro.

vivo iQOO 12 • Asus ROG Phone 7

Alternatively, the Asus ROG Phone 7, which is considerably more expensive, offers better overall gaming experience thanks to better thermal management, better support for high refresh rate gaming, better display and a more mature ecosystem with accessories.

Or if you are willing to wait a little longer and you have the budget for it, the ROG Phone 8 series is just around the corner, so you might want to wait a bit to see what Asus has been up to.

Verdict

Overall, the Red Magic 9 Pro is a capable gaming smartphone with tons of useful gaming features, excellent design, and probably one of the best, if not the best, price/performance ratios currently on the market. Kudos to nubia for maintaining its competitive pricing.

It's not only an affordable Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 option, but it also offers outstanding battery life (even better than before), decently fast charging and a great set of stereo speakers.

However, it's hard to get over the fact that this is the first Red Magic phone to overheat under prolonged loads. We checked, and every single Red Magic phone we've tested kept its cool under prolonged loads. That used to be its shtick, and now it's gone. Also, the display is not as competitive in brightness and HDR capabilities, the software still needs better translation, and the high refresh rate gaming is still a hit-and-miss.

Pros

• Unique flat, premium design.
• Large and fast 120Hz OLED panel, the UD selfie camera is inconspicuous.
• Exceptional battery life, fast charging.
• Plenty of gaming-oriented features, including pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers.
• Flexible and well-executed external display and peripherals gaming experience.
• Nice sounding stereo speakers.
• A decent ultrawide camera, finally.
• Feature-rich Redmagic OS 9

Cons

• The cooling solution underperforms compared to previous generations.
• The display is not among the brightest and does not support HDR video.
• The software is still plagued by awkward English translations from Chinese.
• Ultrawide and selfie cameras are still rather underwhelming.