Imagine Santa taking you to a gear heaven where you can pick up any component and build your dream performance phone. You can go as bold as the hardware built into your laptop and even borrow a few tricks – like a physical fan and liquid cooling – from gaming laptops. Sounds dreamy and edgy, right?
Well, that’s exactly what the Red Magic 11 Pro is all about. Red Magic has made some over-the-top phones over the years, but their latest model takes things to the next level. See those blue tunnels on the back of the phone? Well, these are traces for a coolant, and you can actually see it moving when the phone shifts into a power gear.
That’s all? Well, far from it. This phone is packed to the brim if you value performance above all else. But there are enough “regular phones” on the table here that make the Red Magic 11 Pro a great value at $749. There are some paper cuts, but if you’re looking for a phone that turns heads wherever you go, this is an eye-catching looker.
A performance monster
Let’s be honest here. You buy the Red Magic 11 Pro for raw performance, and in this regard it delivers excellent results. The version I have for testing offers 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, but you can upgrade up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. At the top is Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon. This combination does not disappoint.
On AnTuTu, this is the first phone to cross the four million points mark. For comparison: That’s almost 40% more than Apple’s latest iPhones. In the single-core area, it was only slightly slower than its Apple competitor, but it is literally breathing down its neck. On Geekbench, it was ahead of the iPhone 17 Pro by about 10% in multi-core tests.
On the more intense side, thanks to Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon, the Red Magic was able to outperform the mighty A19 Pro in Apple’s flagship in frame generation performance in 3DMark tests by almost 33-35%.
But what surprised me most were the stability values, especially after the demanding stress tests. After running the 3DMark stress tests, stability scores were typically around 70-80%. These are some of the highest numbers I’ve seen on a flagship phone.
What does that mean? Well, when you play games, frame rates will remain consistent and you won’t notice any aggressive performance throttling even if you play them at the best graphics settings. I also noticed that there are no abrupt spikes in temperature or power consumption when the phone is put through its paces.
These benchmark results can also be easily transferred to the real gaming experience. In general, any game that supports 120 frames per second output will reach this level and maintain peak performance. The phone also features frame interpolation technology that can boost the experience from 60 frames per second to 120 frames per second. Demanding titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail ran well with the maximum graphics settings.
In Zenless Zone Zero, the frame interpolation technology worked quite well, increasing the output from 60 to 120 fps. The drops were also quite small, as the values only dropped to 118 fps in intense combat scenes despite the maximum graphics settings.
Even without switching to Diablo mode, Wuthering Waves played consistently at 60 fps on Rise and the highest graphics settings. Other titles like Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo Immortal also performed quite well. Overall, this is a phone designed specifically for gaming. If you’re looking for something that’s future-proof for retro emulation, cloud, and native mobile titles, this is for you.
But you don’t always have to go full throttle and overclock the performance in Diablo mode to get the most out of the onboard silicon. Rise mode handles games without any problem. The integrated shoulder buttons make a real difference in games and are larger this time.
Then there are the exclusive game plugins that almost feel like cheating when enabled in games. The AI Trigger plugin in particular helped me double the hit rate in shooter games while making it look like a breeze. There are many other useful gaming features that take the Red Magic 11 Pro experience to the next level.
Yes, the entire interface is terrible, but when you land in GameSpace, a whole other world of deep performance and gameplay customization awaits you. No smartphone brand does this as well as Red Magic, and it deserves real praise.
This cooling technology is not a gimmick
Red Magic has equipped its latest flagship with what it calls AquaCore cooling technology, which is said to be the industry’s first mass-produced liquid cooling system. It is equipped with other thermal management systems such as a vapor chamber, liquid metal and a physical fan with side vents.
The fan speed has also increased to 24,000 rpm, while the vapor chamber is the largest you’ll find on a phone on the market. The liquid cooling system is based on a fluorinated liquid, and you can actually see it moving through the channel visible on the rear glass shell.
It’s not possible to quantify exactly how much cooling can be attributed to this system, but in my testing the Red Magic 11 Pro proved to be the best performing phone when it came to thermal management. After a ray tracing stress test, the phone’s temperature only rose to 41 degrees Celsius (or 105 degrees Fahrenheit).
When tested using the 20-loop Wildlife Extreme Stress benchmark, the phone’s temperature only rose seven degrees on the Celsius scale. For flagship phones, these benchmarks often cause the phone to run warm, and in some cases it becomes too hot to hold.
The Red Magic 11 Pro, on the other hand, never gave me such problems. I would like to emphasize that the ambient temperature around me is usually in the range of 13 to 15 degrees Celsius (approximately 55 degrees Fahrenheit). Therefore, it is plausible that the heat exchange through the metal housing is more effective compared to summer. Even when playing, the phone stays cool much better than its predecessor.
After a 30-minute session in Genshin Impact, the peak temperature I recorded was 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit), mostly concentrated in the fan area. This is mainly because the fans allow the hot air to circulate through the case. The remaining portion of the rear glass bowl was usually slightly cooler, but not distinct enough to be felt with fingers.
After a 30-minute Free Fire session with the best graphics settings, the phone’s temperature only rose from 34 to 37 degrees Celsius. After a 30-minute demon hacking and slashing session in Diablo Immortal at the best graphics settings, the peak temperature I recorded was 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
The metal casing is obviously warmer, but overall the Red Magic 11 Pro’s liquid cooling technology definitely seems to help the phone run well without worrying heat buildup.
What else glitters here?
The Red Magic 11 Pro features a 6.85-inch OLED panel with ultra-narrow bezels, 2K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and 1,800 nits of peak brightness. These are all features of a beautiful screen that is, of course, tailored to display content and games. I just wish it was a little less reflective, although the visual performance and viewing angles are acceptable.
From a distance it looks like the most comprehensive phone panel available. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the selfie camera is hidden beneath the pixel layer. Yes, I like the clean look, but the under-display camera doesn’t quite shine and takes average selfies at best. In low-light scenarios, the situation gets worse for extremely soft self-portraits.
I love the battery life of this device. This is equipped with a huge 7,500 mAh battery. Even if you play demanding titles for three to four hours every day, the phone will survive the end of the day. Additionally, support for 80W wired charging and 80W wireless charging is another big advantage.
On the back there are two 50-megapixel cameras and a 2-megapixel zoom camera. No, that’s not a typo, and as expected it produces bad images. The other two snapshots are fine, but don’t dwell too much on aspects such as color realism, lifelike shadows and detailed surfaces.
Overall, the Red Magic 11 Pro doesn’t fit the typical price-first mold of a phone like the iPhone 17 or the OnePlus 15. And yet, it still far outperforms those two in some crucial areas, such as:
For the rest, it’s average at best, especially considering that there will only be a limited number of Android updates in three years. But with a starting price of just $749, this phone is an incredibly good value if you’re truly looking for mobile gaming nirvana.
