Redmagic 9S Pro Review: Gaming Phone on a Budget

RedMagic 9S Pro Review: Affordable Gaming Excellence with No Compromises

Riya Singh September 9, 2024

0 24 7 minutes read

Discover RedMagic 9S Pro: a powerful gaming phone with top performance, a large 6.8-inch screen, and a 6,500mAh battery.

In 2024, the title of “Best Gaming Phone” is more up for grabs than ever. While Asus made solid phones with its ROG Phone 8 series, its move toward more mainstream features may have made them less appealing to gamers.

Nubia, known for its gaming phones, is now well-positioned to benefit from this shift. Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro, released earlier this year, offered great performance, built-in fan cooling and physical controls, all at a reasonable price.

Now, Red Magic 9S Pro is here, offering small improvements over 9 Pro for the same price. The design is almost identical, featuring the same 6.8-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 6500mAh battery with 80W charging, and 50MP dual camera setup. Even the processor is a slightly upgraded version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Cooling system has been upgraded with a new ICE 13.5 system, but the design flaws remain, like the underwhelming in-display selfie camera and Nubia’s less polished custom Android UI.

Despite few new features, Red Magic 9S Pro is still a top contender for the best gaming phone in 2024, competing directly with Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, offering better value for dedicated gamers.

RedMagic 9s Pro Specification

Feature	Details
📏 Dimensions	164 x 76.4 x 8.9 mm
⚖️ Weight	229 g
📱 Display	6.8-inch Full HD+ AMOLED, 120Hz
💻 Chipset	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version
🧠 RAM	12GB / 16GB
💾 Storage	256GB / 512GB
📲 OS	Android 14
📸 Primary Camera	50MP with OIS
🌐 Ultra-wide Camera	50MP
🔍 Macro Camera	2MP
🤳 Front Camera	16MP under-display
🔋 Battery	6,500 mAh
⚡ Charging	80W wired
🎨 Colors	Sleet, Snowfall, Cyclone, Frost

Price and availability of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro is priced starting at $649 in the US and £579 in the UK while Australian customers can purchase it in USD through Red Magic’s global store. Phone was officially launched on July 23, 2024, and for its first week on sale, from July 23 to July 30, 2024, there was an early-bird offer. This offer gave buyers a $30 / £30 discount, making it a great time for early customers to grab the phone at a lower price.

Red Magic 9S Pro comes in four models with different colors and storage options. Most affordable one is the “Sleet” model, priced at $649 / £579, offering 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For more memory and storage, there are the “Cyclone” & “Snowfall” models which come with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. These versions cost $799 / £709.

A fourth model, called “Frost,” will be released around mid-September 2024. It will have 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, just like the Sleet model, and will be priced at $649 / £579.

Pricing of all these models is identical to the Red Magic 9 Pro. Main difference between the two is the addition of the Frost model as another entry-level option, giving customers more choice in colors and storage configurations.

Design of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro is built for gamers with strong Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, along with a solid aluminum frame. Its flat, sharp-edged design makes it sturdy but a bit bulky, similar to Galaxy S24 Ultra in size and weight (164 x 76.4 x 8.9mm, 229g).

Phone features two 520Hz touch-sensitive shoulder buttons on the side which can be customized for gaming controls. It also has a dedicated gaming mode switch that activates Nubia’s gaming interface. To keep phone cool during long gaming sessions, there are built-in cooling vents on the sides.

A key feature for gamers is the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top which allows for high-quality, wired audio. Phone also has stereo speakers but they are placed on the edges, making it easy to accidentally block them while holding the device.

The phone’s front has a big screen that covers almost the entire front, with no curves or notches. The back is semi-transparent, revealing the cooling fan inside. The design is sleek and modern, but front-facing speakers would have been better for gaming. Overall, the phone looks stylish and eye-catching.

Display of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro features a large 6.8-inch screen with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. This screen is identical to the one on Red Magic 9 Pro, meaning it offers vibrant colors and smooth performance. While not fastest screen compared to others like Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro which has a 165Hz refresh rate, 120Hz rate is still excellent for most mobile games.

Display uses BOE Q9+ luminescent material, which makes the colors really pop. For a more accurate video experience, you can switch to the ‘Soft’ mode if you find the colors too bright. The screen can reach up to 1600 nits of brightness in peak conditions, though in regular use, it can hit 447 nits at maximum brightness.

Under-display selfie camera on this device which eliminates any slits or disruptions on screen, is one of its unique characteristics. This offers a clear, uninterrupted viewing experience as opposed to the majority of contemporary phones which feature cuts or notches.

Cameras of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro features a 50MP main camera with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and a 50MP ultra-wide camera. There is also a 2MP macro lens for close-up shots. However, 16MP under-display selfie camera is still disappointing.

Main 50MP camera uses the Samsung GN5 sensor which was good in older models like the Galaxy S22. It takes sharp and vibrant photos in good lighting but struggles with night shots, showing a grainy texture. Hopefully, a software update will improve this.

Ultra-wide 50MP camera uses the Samsung JN1 sensor but produces lower-quality images compared to the main camera, often resulting in dim and unclear photos.

Phone supports high-quality video recording, including up to 8K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps), 4K at 60fps, and 1080p at 240fps. Video footage is generally stable, though exposure adjustments can be awkward when panning quickly.

Biggest drawback is 16MP under-display selfie camera which provides poor quality selfies with bad detail and exposure. Even budget phones with traditional front-facing cameras offer better results.

Performance of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro features a slightly faster version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, called the ‘Leading Version.’ This chip runs at 3.4GHz, compared to 3.3GHz in the standard version, and has a GPU that clocks at 1GHz instead of 900MHz. It comes with either 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and offers storage options of 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0.

Despite these improvements, the performance upgrade is minimal. Phone runs on the same core hardware as Red Magic 9 Pro, making it just as fast in terms of benchmarks and gaming performance. 9S Pro is still a powerful device, capable of handling high-end games with smooth graphics, similar to other top Android phones and recent iPhones.

However, there are some concerns about performance stability. Nubia claims 9S Pro’s cooling system, the ICE 13.5, keeps the phone about 1.5 degrees cooler than before. Yet, in practice, 9S Pro seems to throttle more than its predecessor. Stress tests showed variable results, with scores not much higher than 80%. This is lower than the high-90s scores of 9 Pro and the low-90s scores of Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which lacks an internal cooling fan.

This performance drop could be due to a software issue or the higher-clocked chip itself. A future update might address these concerns, as consistent performance is crucial for a gaming phone.

Software of Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro uses Red Magic OS 9.5 on top of Android 14. Interface has improved but is still not very attractive, featuring bright, gamer-style designs. Some apps like the Browser and Booking.com, feel unnecessary.

OS runs smoothly with quick app switching and easy unlocking. It’s stable and doesn’t have major glitches.

A standout feature is Game Space, which lets you manage game settings, fan speed, CPU and GPU through a side switch. It also offers in-game controls and up to 120fps wireless PC projection (called ‘Z-SmartCast’).

Battery lifeNubia Red Magic 9S Pro

Red Magic 9S Pro has a 6,500mAh battery, which is much larger than most phones and even bigger than Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro’s. This battery easily lasts a full day of heavy use and can even last two days with moderate use. After a full day of intense use, including 5.5 hours of screen time, there was still 44% battery left.

Phone supports 80W wired charging which takes about 45 minutes to fully charge the battery. However, it doesn’t offer wireless charging, which isn’t usually a priority for gamers. The phone can run directly from the wall charger while plugged in, which helps reduce battery heat during intense gaming sessions. It would be even better with extra USB-C port for charging while playing.

Pros and Cons of Red Magic 9S Pro

👍Pros	👎Cons
🌟 Great performance	🔄 Similar to the 9 Pro
💸 Affordable price	🖥️ Software issues
🔋 Long battery life	📸 Bad selfie camera
👍	🔥 Throttling problems

Conclusion

Nubia Red Magic 9S Pro is a strong gaming phone with a good price but it doesn’t bring many new features compared to the previous model. It’s a great device but you might wonder if it’s really needed.