| 256GB 12GB RAM | € 749.00 |
£659.00 |
| 512GB 16GB RAM | € 899.00 |
£799.00 |
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Introduction
If anyone is really and truly playing the specs game, it’s the Red Magic team. The endless pursuit of the best mobile hardware inevitably results in identical devices with only incremental upgrades, which is certainly one way to look at the Red Magic 9S Pro. It’s so similar to the Red Magic 9 Pro that the two have practically the same dimensions and weight. Most of our observations in the Red Magic 9 Pro review thus still apply to the Red Magic 9S Pro.
But wait a moment. If both of these devices are equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, what is the point of the new device? Well, you can see that both phones have Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but the new Red Magic 9S Pro has the top-notch SM8650-AC version of the chip, which is called the “leading version” but is also known as “Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy” when used by Samsung. The Samsung exclusivity contract has apparently expired, so the Red Magic team has finally got access to the top-notch version of the flagship Qualcomm chipset. The one that runs its prime Cortex-X4 CPU core up to 3.4 GHz (instead of 3.3 GHz) and increases the GPU frequency by 1 GHz.
ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro specifications at a glance:
- Body: 164.0×76.4×8.9mm, 229g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminium frame, glass/metal synthetic back; Pressure sensitive zone (520Hz touch-sensing), built-in cooling fan, aviation aluminium middle frame, RGB light strip.
- Display: 6.80″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 1600 nits (peak), 1116x2480px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 400ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8650-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.4 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3×3.2 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×3.0 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×2.3 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 750 (1 GHz).
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
- OS/Software: Android 14, RedMagic OS 9.5.
- rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, 1/1.57″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra Wide Angle: 50 MP, f/2.2, 1/2.76″, 0.64µm; depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1.12µm, under display.
- Record video: rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; front camera: 1080p@30/60fps.
- Battery: 6500mAh; 80W wired, PD3.0, 100% in 35 minutes (advertised).
- Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT; NFC; Infrared port; 3.5mm jack.
- various: Fingerprint reader (under the display, optical); stereo speakers.
It goes beyond the higher clocked chipset too – the Red Magic 9S Pro also features an upgraded cooling system. The 22,000 RPM integrated active cooling fan is still at its peak, but the new ICE 13.5 setup also features a larger 10,182mm2 vapour chamber and a new cooling gel compared to the ICE 13 setup inside the Red Magic 9 Pro. This apparently allows the cooling to reduce the chipset temperature by up to 19.5 degrees Celsius compared to 18 degrees Celsius for the ICE 13 system.
According to the company, these upgrades resulted in 2,369,542 points in AnTuTu – the highest on any Android device. And that’s what’s special about the Red Magic 9S Pro – excellent performance.
The phone we have for review today is the 16 GB/512 GB Red Magic 9S Pro with a 6,500 mAh battery and 80W charging. This is the international version of the device. Those of you who followed along closely may have noticed that 16 GB of RAM was originally only available on the Red Magic 9S Pro+, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for the international model. The only other difference apart from the memory is that the Plus model has a smaller 5,500 mAh battery but faster 165W charging. So you can apply all the other findings in this review to the Red Magic 9S Pro+.
Unboxing
The Red Magic 9S Pro comes in a sturdy two-piece cardboard box. It’s finished in silver, which is quite attractive. Inside is a plastic cradle for the phone and some accessories, which isn’t great from an environmental point of view, but offers great protection during shipping.
The Red Magic 9S Pro has a rich accessory package. The phone comes with a bundled charger rated for 80W charging and it seems to deliver more than PD + PPS. However, Quick Charge 5 is also supported. You also get a red, sturdy Type-C to Type-C passive 3A cable to go with the charger. Also, there is a nice transparent hard case.
