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Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: the best-value gaming phone around
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Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro: Two-minute review
If the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is too much of an investment for you, there are cheaper ways to get your mobile gaming kicks. The Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro offers a comparable gaming experience for literally half the price.
As the first phone to run on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version chipset, paired with a bolstered cooling system, the Red Magic 10S Pro can technically outperform any other phone on the market, even if that fact doesn’t particularly manifest itself in general use.
The phone also features a fine 6.85-inch 144Hz AMOLED display offering a blissfully unimpeded view of the action – though you’ll pay for that with terrible selfie pictures.
Indeed, Nubia’s phone continues to be suboptimal for those who don’t prioritize gaming above all else. Its camera system is fine, but not competitive with the best midrange smartphones. Meanwhile, its design, while nice and flat, is big and heavy, with a gamer aesthetic that remains an acquired taste.
In a similar vein, Nubia’s UI remains a little on the clumsy side, with ugly icons and too much bloatware. With that said, its gamer-focused features are as potent as ever, and the company’s software update promise has taken a big step forward – especially in the EU.
The phone’s level of stamina is truly outstanding, thanks to the inclusion of a huge 7,050mAh battery. This thing could conceivably get you through two days or even more, at least when you’re not indulging in those epic gaming sessions. You’ll be able to get up to speed nice and quickly, too, with an 80W charger included in the box, though you’ll have to make do without wireless charging.
The Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro remains a very specific tool for a very specific job. As impressive a value proposition as it is, we wouldn’t dream of recommending it to anyone who isn’t intent on doing a serious amount of gaming on the go. Most flagship or even midrange phones will probably be a better pick for most people on balance.
For that narrow slice of mobile gamers, however, Nubia’s top gaming phone offers the best bang-to-buck ratio out there.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: price and availability
- Released on June 17
- Priced from $699 / £579 / AU$649
The Red Magic 10S Pro hit shelves on June 18, 2025, with prices starting at $699 / £579 / AU$649 for the matte black Nightfall model, which comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The model tested here is the midrange option with 16GB/512GB, which will set you back $849 / £709 / AU$799
The range-topping 24GB/1TB model costs $999 / £879 / AU$999.
As always with Nubia’s gaming phone range, this represents excellent value for the level of raw performance you’re getting here. Our pick for the best gaming phone on the market, the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, costs $1,199 / £1,099.99 / AU$1,999.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: specs
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Dimensions: | 163 x 76 x 9mm |
Weight: | 229g |
Display: | 6.85-inch Full HD+ (1216 x 2688) up to 144Hz BOE AMOLED |
Chipset: | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version |
RAM: | 12GB / 16GB / 24GB (LPDDR5X) |
Storage: | 256GB / 512GB / 1TB (UFS 4.1) |
OS: | Android 15 |
Primary camera: | 50MP Samsung OV50E 1/1.55-inch sensor w/ OIS |
Ultra-wide camera: | 50MP Samsung OV50D 1/2.88-inch sensor |
Macro camera | 2MP |
Front Camera: | 16MP under-display |
Battery: | 7,050mAh |
Charging: | 80W wired |
Colors: | Nightfall, Dusk, Moonlight |
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: design
- Toughened glass and aviation aluminum middle frame
- Completely flat with no camera bump
- 520Hz capacitive shoulder trigger buttons
- Dedicated gaming mode switch
Suggesting that the Red Magic 10S Pro sports a similar design to the Red Magic 10 Pro is underselling things somewhat.
They’re identical to look at and hold, barring a couple of very minor cosmetic touches: a subtle chevron finish rather than a dappled one; a Red Magic logo switching to a different side; a new ‘Leading Version’ decal reflecting the new chip type, and so on.
This is another large, flat, straight-sided phone measuring 163 x 76 x 9mm and weighing 229g. Once again, it features an “aviation aluminum” frame with toughened glass to the front and back. And, once again, perhaps the most pleasing element of this is the total lack of a sticky-outy camera module.
The aesthetic is the same, too, with a slightly cheap-looking semi-transparent effect that shows you elements of the phone’s internal workings – or at least, elements that broadly represent the internal components.
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Nubia still hasn’t managed to bolster the water and dust resistance rating beyond IP54, likely thanks to the continued presence of whopping great vents on either side of the phone. These facilitate the phone’s physical cooling fan, which kicks in during gaming and charging, and which is highlighted by several RGB lighting elements.
The right edge of the Red Magic 10S Pro is particularly busy. Besides the aforementioned cooling vent, it also houses a volume rocker, a circular power button, and three extra gaming-oriented controls.
There’s a pair of capacitive 520Hz buttons that can be mapped to game controls – particularly handy in competitive shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile and Delta Force. You also get a physical Gamespace switch here, which instantly brings up Nubia’s gaming UI.
Another gaming-oriented inclusion is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge. This negates the issue of audio lag, which even high-end wireless headphones will struggle with, to varying degrees.
The Red Magic 10S Pro, like its predecessors, sports a striking all-screen design with extremely small display bezels and an under-display selfie camera, producing a high 95.3% screen-to-body ratio. This doesn’t leave room for dual front-firing speakers, which means you can cover the speaker on the bottom edge with your hand.
In terms of sound output, you’re looking at speakers that get plenty loud and offer decent stereo separation, but which are somewhat piercing and lacking in low-end depth – certainly compared to many flagship phones.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: display
- 6.85-inch OLED
- 1216 x 2688 ‘1.5K’ resolution
- 144Hz refresh rate
- 2000 nits peak brightness
After changing things up with the Red Magic 10 Pro, Nubia has gone with the exact same display for the 10S Pro. This is a large 6.85-inch OLED with a nicely balanced ‘1.5K’ resolution, which works out to 2,688 x 1,216.
This also produces a 144Hz maximum refresh rate. The list of games that can actually support such fluidity is pretty slender, but it’s one of the few use case scenarios for such a spec. The Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro has it beat at 185Hz, but then, you’re paying double the money for such diminishing returns.
In peak HDR scenarios, this display is capable of hitting 2,000 nits, though in general use, you won’t get anywhere near that mark. It’s bright enough for clear outdoor usage, however.
As we’ve already discussed, the Red Magic 10S Pro Display is notable for being completely unhindered by a selfie notch. Experiencing video and gaming content in such an unobstructed way feels good, and you might question why more phones don’t take such an approach.
The answer to that question is very simple indeed, but we’ll leave off answering it until the camera section.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: cameras
- 50MP main with OIS
- 50MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro
- 16MP in-display selfie camera still terrible
- Up to 8K/30fps video
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the camera system here is identical to that of the Red Magic 10 Pro.
There’s the same 50MP 1/1.55″ OmniVision OV50E main sensor with OIS and a 7P lens. This is accompanied by a 50MP 1/2.88″ OV50D ultra-wide, and an all-but-pointless 2MP macro sensor. There is no dedicated telephoto camera.
You also get the same 16MP in-display front camera.
There’s an unspoken deal you strike with every gaming phone manufacturer: they will give you an extremely fast phone with a level of sustained performance and stamina well in excess of your average flagship phone. In return, you will give up any expectations of taking really good photographs.
That holds as true with the Red Magic 10S Pro as it did with its predecessors (for the record, the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro takes decent shots, though it’s well short of the very best camera phones). This is a competent mid-range performer, though you could spend about £100 less on the Google Pixel 9a and have a much better time if photography is your priority.
With that main sensor, shots look sharp and contrasty in good lighting, if a little over-processed and unnaturally vibrant. Night shots look nice and clear, though again, there’s a slightly false note to the level of brightness.
Ultra-wide shots take a notable hit to quality, with a drabber, flatter look compared to the main sensor. This can occasionally work in its favor, producing more natural-looking shots, but in general, the disparity is just distracting.
Zoomed shots all crop in on that main sensor, but they’re not worth using beyond 2x. Even at 4x, the drop-off in detail is stark.
It’s a familiar story by now, but the decision to go with an in-display front camera results in flat-out terrible selfies, lacking in detail and contrast. Nubia claims that the AI algorithm has been upgraded here, and I suppose if I were being charitable, I’d concede that the selfies I took were the best I’ve seen from a Red Magic phone.
But you have to understand that this is a very low bar indeed, and almost any affordable phone released in 2025 should be able to top it in the selfie stakes.
Nubia is one of those manufacturers that implements a couple of annoying settings straight out of the box. One is an inexplicable watermark (as you can see in some of my sample images), while another is an obnoxious beautifying mode for selfies. You can turn both off easily enough, but it should really be this way out of the box.
Video recording is very solid here, with Nubia putting that flagship chip to good use in supporting 8K recording at 30fps or – more practically – 4K at 60fps. Footage shot using the latter configuration was nice and smooth, courtesy of that OIS.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: camera samples
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Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: performance
- Souped-up Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version
- 12GB, 16GB, or 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM
- 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage
- Sustained performance takes a step back, though average performance is still better
The one component that explains and even justifies the Red Magic 10S Pro’s existence is the move to a new chip. Kind of.
In fact, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version found here is merely an overclocked version of the chip from the Red Magic 10 Pro – and most other 2025 flagship phones, for that matter.
Nubia claims that it supplies a 30% power boost, with the CPU clock speeds moving up from 4.32GHz to 4.47GHz and the GPU from 1,100MHz to 1,200MHz. The NPU, meanwhile, provides an AI performance boost of 40%.
This is supported by a bolstered Liquid Metal 2.0 cooling system, which rejigs things for a 5°C reduction in temperature compared to the 10 Pro.
None of this is noticeable in day-to-day performance, nor even when gaming. There’s a very simple reason for that: the Snapdragon 8 Elite was already more than enough to handle the very best games that the Google Play Store has to offer.
Graphically advanced games such as GRID Legends already run fabulously on the Red Magic 10 Pro, while you can blast opponents on Call of Duty: Mobile at high frame rates and graphical settings.
Indeed, even using our usual suite of benchmark tests, the Red Magic 10S Pro performed no better than its predecessor. That still positions it as one of the fastest phones on the market, of course, but know that the main advantage to buying this phone is performance headroom.
Sustained performance was unimpeachable on the Red Magic 10 Pro, and it seems Nubia hasn’t quite managed to maintain such a high level here. A score of 84.8% in 3D Mark’s Solar Bay Stress Test falls 15% short of its predecessor, suggesting that it can’t quite maintain peak performance across an intensive 20-minute workout.
However, it’s worth digging deeper into the figures here. A peak loop score of 12568 is quite a bit higher than the Red Magic 10 Pro’s 10032. Indeed, the 10S Pro could beat that with its lowest loop score of 10654. In other words, the Red Magic 10S Pro can’t stay at its maximum level as long as the 10 Pro, but its output is still better at any given moment.
Needless to say, general navigation and day-to-day use don’t pose a problem for the Red Magic 10S Pro. Especially not with the 16 GB of RAM that my test model comes bundled with.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: software
- Red Magic OS 10.5 on Android 15
- UI is ugly but solid enough
- Dedicated Game Space gaming UI
- Up to 5 years of OS and security updates
In keeping with the Red Magic 10S Pro’s half-step nature, it ships with Red Magic OS 10.5. It’s much the same as Red Magic OS 10 in the previous model, sitting atop the same Android 15 operating system.
That’s not necessarily a positive, as Nubia’s UI still needs a lot of work. It’s a fairly clunky experience, with ugly icons and wallpapers, and an unnecessarily huge fan widget. Nubia’s Google Feed replacement to the left of the Home Screen continues to be a tacky collection of random news stories and apps.
While it’s a lot less buggy and janky than it used to be, there are still some rough edges. On my test model, that manifested itself most obviously with a pair of app icons on the second Home Screen mysteriously labelled ‘Unknown’.
I’m not sure why, but I was required to dive into Gmail’s Settings just to make this default email app sync up.
Bloatware is still an issue, too. Even deselecting all the terrible games at the set-up phase doesn’t clean things up completely. Rather hilariously, there are two dedicated folders filled with download prompts for said unwanted apps.
TikTok, Facebook, MoboReader, MoboReals, WPS Office, and Booking.com are all there at set-up, whether you like it or not.
With all that said, Red Magic OS 10.5 runs snappily, and Nubia’s Game Space game management UI remains a comprehensive way to organize and manage your gaming. Flip that switch, and you’ll enter a landscape interface that lets you tweak performance, screen sensitivity, screen ratios, and individual game plug-ins that verge on the cheat-y.
Google Gemini is pre-installed, alongside some now fairly standard AI tools for photo search, image editing, real-time translation, and the like. Circle to Search is also here.
Ongoing support continues to fall behind the best, but is now much improved over the Red Magic 10 Pro. There are now three years of OS and security updates in the global and US models, and five years in the UK and EU models.
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: battery life
- 7,050mAh battery
- Multi-day usage
- 80W wired charging
Nubia really stepped things up with the Red Magic 10 Pro, squeezing in a huge 7,050mAh battery. The 10S Pro has the same, and it remains one of the biggest cells on the market.
With this battery on board, I was able to blast through two days of moderate usage, and even well into a third before I felt compelled to plug it in.
When the phone finally did run out of juice entirely, the bundled 80W charger got me back up to 72% in just 30 minutes. A full charge took me 45 minutes, which isn’t too shabby at all given the battery’s capacity.
There’s no wireless charging here, which we’ve come to expect from Nubia’s gaming sub-brand. That’s not to say it should be let off the hook entirely – the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro includes a wireless charging provision – but it’s an understandable omission in the name of prioritizing gaming-friendly features on a strict budget.
Indeed, it’s probably a more apt criticism to note that there’s no secondary USB-C port on the long edge, which makes charging while gaming so much more viable in the ROG.
Should I buy the Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro?
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Design | It’s big and unwieldy, and the gamer aesthetic grows a little tiresome, but it’s also nice and flat. | 3.5 / 5 |
Display | This screen is big, sharp, fluid, and it gets reasonably bright. It’s also unobstructed by a bothersome notch. | 4 / 5 |
Performance | As the first phone to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version, this is one of the very fastest phones around. | 4.5 / 5 |
Camera | It’ll take solid pictures in good lighting, but you don’t buy a gaming phone if you’re seriously interested in great photos. | 3 / 5 |
Battery | This phone has one of the largest batteries around, and it’s good for multi-day use. | 5 / 5 |
Software | Nubia’s custom UI is reasonably fast and fluid these days, but it’s still ugly and cluttered. | 3 / 5 |
Value | You simply won’t find this level of performance at this price anywhere else on the market. | 5 / 5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro review: also consider
The Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro is a great-value gaming phone, but there are some excellent alternatives if you want to spend more or less.
How I tested the Nubia Red Magic 10S Pro
- Review test period = 1 week
- Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
- Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Nubia 80W power adapter
First reviewed: June 2025
