REDMAGIC 8S Pro Review: The performance champion returns, better than before

When it comes to the best gaming smartphones on the market, only a few brands come to mind. Among these are Asus with its ROG sub-brand, Xiaomi’s Black Shark, and nubia’s REDMAGIC. The REDMAGIC 8 Pro stood out as one of our favorite smartphones earlier this year, and now, the company has introduced the REDMAGIC 8S Pro, an upgraded version that builds upon its predecessor’s success.

The new REDMAGIC 8S Pro shares a lot of similar internals with its predecessor, but it also introduces a plethora of new features. These include a newly designed cooling system, a faster variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a plethora of new gaming-specific features, and much more. We’ve had the opportunity to test out the REDMAGIC 8S Pro over the past week and a half, and we can confidently say that the performance champion is back, and it’s even better than before.

Whether you’re looking for a device that offers the best gaming performance or simply a high-end smartphone with speedy internals, this smartphone has it all. So, without further ado, let’s delve into our full review of the REDMAGIC 8S Pro and see everything the new nubia smartphone has to offer.

Price & Availability

The nubia REDMAGIC 8S Pro will be available to pre-order from July 27, 2023. The device will start shipping next month. The REDMAGIC 8S Pro starts at $649, and it will be available in three color options. The Midnight variant, with a sleek and dark finish, comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The Platinum variant, with its silvery finish, bumps up the storage and RAM to 512GB and 16GB, respectively. Lastly, the Aurora variant, the one showcased in this review, offers a unique transparent finish with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro will be available in the following countries:

• North America: Canada and the United States
• Latin America: Mexico, Peru and Chile
• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Portugal, Finland, Romania, France, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, and the United Kingdom
• Asia Pacific: Hong Kong (China SAR), Indonesia, Macau (China SAR), Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia
• Middle East: Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt

Design

• Stylish, premium-feeling square design
• RGB lighting and a physical cooling fan
• 3.5mm audio jack + stereo speakers

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro retains the square-edged design of its predecessor but comes with subtle changes that make it better than the 8 Pro. The device has a premium in-hand feel, thanks to its glass front and back, which is complemented by a polished aluminum frame. The front display is shielded by Gorilla Glass 5, although nubia hasn’t specified the type of glass used at the back. The front display also comes with a plastic TPU screen protector pre-installed.

The Aurora variant we received features a transparent design with RGB lighting on the back. Thanks to the glass back being transparent, some of the phone’s parts, such as the cooling fan, screws, and even the backplate to cover the motherboard, are visible. This gives the REDMAGIC 8S Pro an industrial look, which is quite reminiscent of the Nothing Phone 2, but slightly more so.

Just like the predecessor, the REDMAGIC logo and the labels for the cooling system and shoulder triggers light up with RGB light. The cooling fan boasts a separate RGB lighting unit altogether. You can customize the RGB lighting as per your preference. For example, you can set it to turn on as soon as you launch a game and even customize it to blink when you receive a notification. There are also several animation effects to choose from.

On the whole, the back of the 8S Pro has a toned-down look compared to the REDMAGIC 8 Pro. The phone has overall less branding, and even the existing labels are less conspicuous due to their grayish tone, as opposed to the previous golden/yellow hue. However, just like most glass-back smartphones, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is prone to fingerprints, which is especially noticeable on the transparent back.

As for the 8S Pro’s layout, it includes a USB-C port, speaker grill, and SIM tray at the bottom. On the right side, you’ll find a power button, a red-themed toggle switch for Game mode, a cooling vent, and capacitive touch shoulder triggers. The top houses a 3.5mm headphone jack — something that’s quite rare on smartphones these days — while the left side features a fan vent and volume rockers. The buttons are tactile and responsive, as are the air triggers.

Despite housing a hefty 6,000 mAh battery, the phone feels light and slim in hand. Even with its sharp, square edges, prolonged usage doesn’t cause discomfort. The phone, however, is quite slippery. To counter this, nubia includes a customized plastic case in the box. The case features special cutouts for the fan vents and shoulder triggers, all while providing a better grip.

The only downside we could identify is the lack of an IP rating, which is understandable given the presence of physical vents in the phone.

Display

• 6.8-inch AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate
• Under-display camera and fingerprint sensor
• Slim bezels

The nubia REDMAGIC 8S Pro packs a big 6.8-inch AMOLED display. This display, in fact, is one of my favorite features of the phone. It supports an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and also offers a peak brightness of up to 1300 nits. This display also supports a 960Hz touch sampling rate for super-fast response times. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra only has a 240Hz touch sampling rate.

Most of the front space is predominantly occupied by the display. This is thanks to the very slim and even bezels around the phone, which gives it a modern and elegant look. The color reproduction is a tad bit vibrant for my taste right out of the box — as a point of reference, I have been using the iPhone 14 Pro Max for the past six months. However, this can easily be adjusted in the settings to suit individual preferences.

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro also incorporates an under-display selfie camera. The screen over this camera uses specialized OLED materials and boasts a PPI of 400, so you won’t be able to notice it easily. However, it can be slightly visible in certain areas with dark content in front of it. Nevertheless, it enhances the overall immersive experience of the display, especially during gaming.

One drawback of the display, which was also a concern with the REDMAGIC 8 Pro, is the lack of official HDR certification. Despite the screen’s brightness and brilliant color production, it does not support HDR playback. Nonetheless, the display is truly a joy to use. It’s perfect for watching movies, everyday use, and of course, playing games.

Performance & Software

• Overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
• Brand-new cooling system with graphene sheet underneath
• REDMAGIC 8.0 OS based on Android 13, X-Gravity feature for cloud and cross-platform gaming

Our review unit of the nubia REDMAGIC 8S Pro was the Aurora model, equipped with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 built-in storage. All variants of the REDMAGIC 8S Pro are powered by an overclocked version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, boasting CPU speeds of up to 3.36 GHz (compared to the standard version’s 3.2 GHz) and GPU performance of up to 719 MHz.

The performance of this device is truly impressive — this thing flies! It breezes through tasks without a hint of sluggishness or slowdown, which is exactly what you’d expect from a flagship chip. Additionally, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro houses a dedicated RED Core 2 gaming chip, which manages functions such as audio processing, haptic feedback, and RGB lighting. nubia says the gaming chip works in tandem with the smartphone’s main chip, thereby enhancing the overall performance of the device.

One key area where the REDMAGIC 8S Pro improves over its predecessor is how it handles heat. While we didn’t really encounter any heating issues with the REDMAGIC 8 Pro, nubia has upgraded the cooling system in the 8S Pro to ICE 12.0. This system has been re-engineered from the ground up and now includes a graphene sheet, resulting in a 33% performance improvement over the previous model.

The 20,000 RPM cooling fan also contributes to maintaining a cool device temperature. We didn’t experience any heating issues with the REDMAGIC 8S Pro during our testing, even during extended gaming sessions. Even if the device did heat up a little during charging, the turbofan and the new cooling system quickly brought the temperature back down, ensuring a comfortable and safe user experience.

REDMAGIC 8.0 OS

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro has seen significant improvements in terms of software. The smartphone runs on the company’s latest REDMAGIC 8.0 OS and offers a number of optimizations and gaming-specific features compared to the REDMAGIC 6.0 OS found on the 8 Pro. It is still a blend of nubia’s custom skin and Android 13, and that, in no way, is a bad thing.

The OS keeps the Material You theming from Android 13, allowing the system to draw colors from the wallpaper for a more personalized experience. However, it also packs its own set of features that allows the user to customize their own experience. The phone can be fully personalized, from changing the look of the Always-On Display mode to adjusting animation speed, color, and even shapes of the UI elements. There are also new personalization features, such as new fingerprint animation effects, theme colors, and wallpapers.

There are still some things left for nubia to fix. For example, a user can’t still download an icon pack from the Play Store and apply to the system. There is also a slight delay in notification delivery. This delay is more noticeable when compared to other flagship devices. However, it’s important to note that this delay doesn’t hinder the overall user experience significantly, and most users might not even notice it.

If you do find the delay bothersome, there is a workaround. By going into the app info of specific apps and changing the battery optimization settings to allow the app to run in the background, you can improve the speed at which notifications are delivered. It is, however, not ideal and requires manual adjustment for each app.

On the whole, though, the OS feels quick and responsive. Although it may take some time to settle once it boots up, once it’s ready, you won’t encounter much lag.

Gaming & Game Space features

Moving on to the gaming features, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro, like its predecessor, is packed with gaming-specific features. The “Game Space,” accessible by toggling the physical switch on the right, serves as a dashboard for games and managing all related features. In this space, you can customize various aspect of the smartphone.

You can customize the touch sampling rate, boost the performance of the chipset, set the smartphone to clear RAM and stop unnecessary activities when launched, and more. You can also manage how the smartphone handles notifications, calls, and other alerts during your gaming sessions.

The gaming experience on the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is just what you would expect — it’s exceptional, with no hiccups or long loading times. I tried popular titles like the Call of Duty, Asphalt 9, and Battlegrounds Mobile India (Indian version of PUBG Mobile) on our unit of the REDMAGIC 8S Pro, and the performance was always butter smooth. The graphics loaded immediately, and the smartphone handled the best graphics settings with ease and without overheating, thanks to the fan and cooling system.

The shoulder triggers also elevate the gaming experience on the device. They can be customized to your liking, supporting a variety of actions such as a single tap, long tap, dual operation, and more. These triggers provide an additional pair of quickly accessible touch areas, which can be particularly useful in shooting games like PUBG and Fortnite.

There are some additional features to enhance your gaming experience. You can easily record your gaming sessions and there’s also a plugin library, which adds game-specific features to help you game more effectively. You can even configure one-button move sequences, allowing players to set common move sequences with just a press of a button — a feature that can come in handy during intense battles.

The X Gravity gaming feature is another standout feature of the REDMAGIC 8S Pro. This allows you to play cloud games and even cross-platform games directly from your PS5 or Xbox Series S/X on your smartphone. The phone also comes with an app called REDMAGIC Studio, which lets users connect their phones to monitors and TVs wirelessly, or via USB-C. This feature enables games to be played on the big screen, and also allows the use of keyboards and mouse.

Haptics

What further enhances the gaming experience on the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is the smartphone’s haptic engine. The 8S Pro is equipped with a dual X-axis linear motor that provides one of the best touch feedback experiences I have experienced on an Android smartphone. During gaming, these haptics provide just the right amount of feedback, making the whole experience more immersive and enjoyable.

Speakers

Finally, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro features stereo speakers developed in cooperation with DTS:X Ultra. While the speakers are excellent, the sound can feel a bit muffled and lacks bass, with some distortion at max volume. However, the sound output is quite loud, making it suitable for gaming and media consumption.

Camera

• Primary camera shots are great in day and low lighting
• Ultra-wide camera is usable, but it produces a little soft detail-lacking images
• Selfie camera is a little underwhelming

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro comes equipped with a Samsung GN5 50MP primary sensor, the same as its predecessor. This sensor supports an f/1.88 aperture and is capable of capturing wide HDR shots. The primary camera is paired with an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a standard 2MP macro lens. On the front, there’s a 16MP under-display selfie camera.

The overall camera performance of the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is fairly similar to the previous generation smartphone. The primary camera is quite impressive, capturing amazing pictures with plenty of detail during daylight conditions. Even in artificial or low-light environments, the sensor manages to capture a lot of information while maintaining a great dynamic range. However, I did notice that using tap to focus tends to overexpose the area slightly. Despite this, the default camera captures great images with decent colors.

The ultra-wide lens, however, was a bit of a disappointment, much like with the REDMAGIC 8 Pro. The colors from this lens often differ from those captured by the primary sensor, and the final image output tends to lack detail and appear a bit too soft.

As for the under-display selfie camera, it’s usable at best. The image quality doesn’t quite match up to what you’d expect from a traditional selfie camera, but it can work for casual video calls or occasional selfies. The images are usually overexposed, and the output often resembles blurry paintings. The quality further degrades in low-light conditions. Nonetheless, the under-display camera is there to provide a seamless full-screen experience without notch and punch-hole camera cutout, and at that, it’s great.

Battery Life

• Big 6,000 mAh battery
• Fast charging up to 65W
• No wireless charging

Almost all the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powered smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 series and the OnePlus 11, have great battery life, and the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is no exception. The device houses a big 6,000 mAh battery with support for 65W fast wired USB-C charging. This combination delivers a truly exceptional battery experience.

During my initial charge cycle, the smartphone lasted a full two days, and the battery performance only improved from there. On a typical day, which involved using the phone for work, capturing photos, playing games, and watching videos, I would usually end up with around 40% battery remaining — something that’s truly remarkable.

And if you’re concerned that 40-50% battery won’t last the whole of the next day, a quick 15-minute top-up during a shower easily pushes the battery to the higher 80s or 90s, providing sufficient charge. In fact, the idle battery drain on the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is also impressively low. I found that I lost only around 3-4% overnight.

When you put the phone to charge, the fan automatically kicks in to keep things cool. The only downside I could find is the lack of wireless charging. However, with the extremely fast wired charging and the device’s impressive battery life, you won’t need to plug in your smartphone during the day anyway.

REDMAGIC 8S Pro: Should you buy it?

Buy it if…

• You want the best performing Android smartphone.
• You want a smartphone with RGB lighting and cool gaming features.
• You want a smartphone with great battery life.
• You don’t mind a subpar camera experience.

Don’t buy it if…

• You need an officially IP rated phone.
• You want the best camera performance.
• You want a great selfie camera.
• You don’t play a lot of mobile games.

The REDMAGIC 8S Pro builds on the foundation laid by the REDMAGIC 8 Pro, and brings some changes that make the whole user experience even better. The premium build materials, the comfortable in-hand feel, and the slightly toned-down aesthetic all combine to create a device that is both elegant and stylish.

nubia has listened to the feedback and made significant improvements in the software area, adding a plethora of gaming-specific features and other useful functionalities. While there are still some rough edges that need smoothing out, these can be addressed in future software updates.

On the whole, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro offers a comprehensive package that’s hard to ignore. It boasts the best-in-class chipset, a premium build, an immersive display, and great battery life. If you’re in the market for a device that delivers top-tier performance, the REDMAGIC 8S Pro is an excellent choice. And, as it stands, this smartphone is set to top our list of the best gaming smartphones available today.