The Red Magic 9S Pro claims to hold the AnTuTu score record – gamers love their benchmarks. But do they love the 9S Pro? Do you? There’s also the Red Magic 9S Pro+ with a different battery/charger configuration and a different memory configuration.
The Red Magic 9S Pro will be launched globally on July 16, you can already take a look at the official siteWe only have pricing for China right now, but for comparison’s sake, the Red Magic 9 Pro it replaces starts at a very reasonable €650 for a 12/256GB model.
Overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 • Flawless 6.8” 120Hz 10-bit display
There aren’t all that many differences between the 9 and 9S. The S phones use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version, which has a 3.4GHz prime CPU core and a 1GHz GPU. Impressive numbers, but they’re a minor overclock over the 8 Gen 3 chip used in the 9-series.
The Red Magics do feature active cooling, however, which uses the redesigned ICE 13.5 system to keep the chipset 19.5°C cooler (1.5°C better than the 9-series’ cooling system).
Impressive battery system • active cooling with a 22,000 RPM fan
Below are the Chinese pricing for the Red Magic 9S Pro and 9S Pro+. We should also mention the battery. Like its predecessors, the Pro has a larger 6,500mAh battery that still charges quickly at 80W – 100% in 35 minutes. The Pro+ is even faster – 100% in 16 minutes – but sacrifices capacity (5,500mAh) for a faster charging speed (165W).
| 12GB/256GB | 12GB/512GB | 16GB/512GB | 24GB/1TB | ||
| Red Magic 9S Pro | Dark/White Knight | 3,800 Chinese Yuan | 5,200 Chinese Yuan | – | – |
| Transparent | 5,000 Chinese Yuan | 5,400 Chinese Yuan | – | – | |
| Red Magic 9S Pro+ | Dark/White Knight | – | – | 5,800 Chinese Yuan | – |
| Transparent | – | – | 6,000 CNY | – | |
| Special edition | – | – | – | 7,000 CNY |
The Red Magic 9S Pro and Pro+ are gaming phones and their designs leave no room for questions. But that doesn’t mean they can’t double as regular phones and they do have some features that you might find appealing. The price is pretty competitive for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 device, to start with.
Also, the 6.8-inch OLED display is a flat rectangle – no rounded corners, no punch-holes (the 16MP camera is under the display). There’s a 50MP main + 50MP ultra-wide camera setup on the back, which sits flush – no camera bumps here. The 6,500mAh battery in a phone that’s 8.9mm thick and weighs 229g also deserves a mention.
The fan cooler isn’t water resistant, but wouldn’t you rather have the performance you’re paying for instead of a thermally throttled version? When was the last time you spilled water on your phone anyway?
Red Magic 9S Pro
There’s one last question before we go to the polls. The Red Magic 10 is almost certainly only a few months away and will bring an actively cooled Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 (probably). Wouldn’t you rather wait for that?
So, should you buy the Red Magic 9S Pro and if so, how will you use it – for gaming or as an all-rounder? Again, the 9S Pro launches globally in two weeks.
What about the Red Magic 9S Pro+? If it was available near you, would you buy this version for the faster charging and/or more memory?