nubia Red Magic 6R review

Synthetic benchmarks

The Red Magic 6R employs the same Qualcomm chipset as the Red Magic 6 and the most current flagship crop - the Snapdragon 888. The SoC is based on the 5nm manufacturing process.

Snapdragon 888 offers an octa-core CPU with one big Kryo 680 Prime core clocked at 2.84 GHz, a separate cluster of three Kryo 680 Gold cores ticking at 2.42 GHz and a third Kryo 680 Silver cluster of four cores running at 1.80 GHz. The Prime core is based on ARM's Cortex-X1 architecture, the Gold cores are Cortex-A78 derivatives and the Silver ones are Cortex-A55-based.

The GPU on board is the Adreno 660.

The Red Magic 6R has a total of four memory configurations of LPDDRX5 RAM and UFS3.1 storage - 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB, 12GB/128GB and (ours) 12GB/256GB. There is no microSD card slot expansion.

Let's see some benchmark scores now.

First, we ran the latest version of Geekbench and the Red Magic 6R aced both CPU tests.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  3709
• OnePlus 9
  3629
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  3586
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  3489
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  3486
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  3476
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  3448
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  3387
• nubia Red Magic 5S
  3386

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  1129
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  1128
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  1124
• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  1121
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  1091
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  1085
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  1029
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  929
• nubia Red Magic 5S
  927

The GPU scores are outstanding. Thanks to the 144Hz 1080p screen, the Adreno 660 can score some impressive numbers and you can rest assure gaming on the Red Magic 6R will be hiccup-free.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  137
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  135
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  118
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  113
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  91
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  88
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s
  86
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  60
• nubia Red Magic 5S
  60
• Black Shark 2
  60
• OnePlus 9
  60

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  103
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  101
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  100
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  86
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  85
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s
  65
• OnePlus 9
  60
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  59
• nubia Red Magic 5S
  59
• Black Shark 2
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  57

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  59
• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  59
• OnePlus 9
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  54
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  50
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  50
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  41
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s
  37
• Black Shark 2
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  33

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  43
• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  43
• OnePlus 9
  43
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  37
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  34
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s
  24
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  24

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  5757
• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  5740
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  5714
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  5673
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  5667
• OnePlus 9
  5667
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  4212

Finally, the compound AnTuTu test puts the Red Magic 6R on par with its SD888 peers.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  715196
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6
  708853
• Asus ROG Phone 5 (X Mode)
  708531
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
  708156
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  668722
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  622276
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  617456
• nubia Red Magic 5S
  557210
• nubia Red Magic 5G
  557056
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 3s
  495229

The Red Magic 6R is equipped with the right chipset and screen for gaming - that is certain. And the benchmark results are as flagship-grade as they come. So, as far as synthetic performance is concerned - the nubia Red Magic 6R performs as well as the best of this flagship generation.

Sustained performance

Unlike the Red Magic 6, the 6R model does not feature a built-in cooling fan. It relies on an advanced passive cooling solution based on the usual heat pipe with a vapor chamber combination.

So, the SoC relies on a large vapor chamber, graphene layers, conductive metal frame in the middle and a large copper foil for additional thermal conductivity. It's all put together by a thermal gel too.

We were curious to see the chip performance under maximum CPU loads without the RM6's fan. And we ran an hour-long stress test with maximum CPU load and the results are in.

CPU stress test result

The multi-layer passive cooling system allowed the CPU to keep about 83% of its maximum performance. For comparison, the fan-cooled Red Magic 6R managed to keep 94% of its CPU performance. We'd say 83% is not bad at all, in fact it's a drop you'd barely notice under real-life usage.

We also liked that the performance drops steadily without any sudden drops. This means that over time, your framerate may drop a bit but that will happen gradually. If there are any sudden spikes, the CPU would throttle aggressively and then ramp up once the temperature returns to normal. Then the cycle repeats. This would ultimately lead to choppy gameplay. Luckily, the Red Magic 6R handles those kinds of situations well enough.

In case you are wondering why we are running a CPU load test - well, the answer is rather simple - the CPU is the main heat generator. The GPU doesn't contribute to the overall heat as much, so the CPU-only stress test is good enough to assess the device's performance over long periods of time.

Finally, let's talk about heat. The rear glass becomes pretty warm during benchmarks and stress tests, especially around the camera and the middle, but that's to be expected. What was not expected was the two symmetrical heat spots - around the left gaming trigger and on its opposite side. The Red Magic 6R became so hot here, that we couldn't hold it there anymore - it was dangerously hot and that's not an overstatement.

We know such heat is produced mostly when using 100% of the phone's CPU and GPU power for prolonged times, but it's still good to know. On a positive note, the CPU did not go above 60C under peak performance for an hour, meaning the cooling system is incredibly good with heat conduction and dissipation.

Gaming performance and HRR handling

Gaming performance was excellent. We didn't notice any sudden frame drops or lagging issues even with more demanding games. You can be assured that the Red Magic 6R can handle pretty much everything you throw at it.

Let's start with one of the popular PUBG Mobile title, which is unfortunately capped at 60fps. Even messing around with the graphics settings didn't yield any results.

Next on the list are the just as popular Call of Duty Mobile and Dead Trigger. Call of Duty supports 120Hz refresh rate, while Dead Trigger 2 can work on 144Hz hassle-free.

The arcade type Sky Force: Reloaded maxes out at 90Hz. While Ace Force and Real Racing 3 can do 144Hz.

PUBG • CoD Mobile • Dead Trigger 2 • Sky Force • Ace Force • Real Racing 3

This time around, we have more than a few games going even beyond 90Hz, which is a sign that the Android gaming segment starts to mature.

Surely, you might be able to find more games willing to push the boundaries of the HRR display but we went with one of the most popular examples. The compatibility issue is still at hand, though, as the majority of games settle for 60fps, so keep this in mind when buying.