Nubia has released its latest flagship gaming phone for the second half of the year—the REDMAGIC 6S Pro. And as you might have guessed from the name, it’s a minor upgrade to the REDMAGIC 6 Pro from the first half of the year. While we couldn’t test the old REDMAGIC 6 Pro, let’s take a look at how REDMAGIC’s latest flagship gaming phone performs.
Welcome to Gizmochina’s REDMAGIC 6S Pro review.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Design
The REDMAGIC 6S Pro looks very similar to the REDMAGIC 6 Pro, and from a distance, the difference is barely noticeable. But the back has become more minimalistic, and the lack of RGB lighting makes the 6S Pro more of a normal phone than a gaming phone. The entire back is very smooth and feels very good in the hand.
The camera also doesn’t protrude much. It features a design that is more comfortable when playing games than other angular gaming phones. Headphone jack, Shoulder Triggers and NFC are also present.
As a gaming phone, the REDMAGIC 6S Pro is well-made, and it would have been perfect if the plastic protective layer around the screen was made smaller.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Review: Design
Both REDMAGIC 6S Pro and REDMAGIC 6 Pro have similar screens featuring 165Hz, FHD+, OLED display. With diamond-like pixel arrangement, there is no gap between the clarity and Samsung’s screen. There is no hole-punch or notch as it is a complete screen, and the thickened upper and lower bezels make it suitable for two-handed gaming. The only drawback that can be felt more obviously is the tendency to squint at green. The front view does not have this problem, and the colors are gorgeous. There is no doubt that it is an excellent screen.
As a gaming phone, what we are concerned about is what has been done to optimize the gaming experience. Shoulder Triggers are now upgraded a bit compared to the previous generation, while the touch sampling rate is upgraded to 450Hz. And the new addition of the back touch area, plus Shoulder Triggers can quickly perform three or four operations at the same time. However, the back of the touch area does not make a distinction between different touch gestures, so you have to practice more to become proficient in operation. The game toolbar also gets a new design, both sides can be swiped to call out the toolbar. Red Magic OS also includes some redesigned widgets that allow you to visually see your heartbeat, game time, and more. A number of game-related quick switches can be easily opened when you need them.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Review: Gaming & Performance
REDMAGIC 6S Pro upgrades the processor to Snapdragon 888+.
LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 are also our old friends. Although this year’s Snapdragon flagship chips are very hot, REDMAGIC’s built-in fan design is not for show.
With the fan on the strongest mode, Antutu Bench ran the highest score ever — 870,163. In 3DMark it got 5897, while in Geekbench 5 the phone got a single-core score of 1146 and a multi-core score of 3686.
The gaming performance is as good as ever, with PUBG being able to turn on 90 FPS mode in Smooth Graphics, and the frame rate curve is very smooth. But We know PUBG is not stressful to gaming phones at all.
Genshin Impact’s frame rate curve is not as stable, but the average frame rate of 56 FPS is very impressive. The frame rate doesn’t fluctuate significantly either. Brightridge being the most processor demanding game, the average frame rate of 48FPS is also very impressive compared to other non-gaming phones.
The built-in fan can ensure your processor has a stable frame rate throughout, but it does not guarantee that the external temperature will come down. The back of the phone can reach up to 53 degrees Celsius, so if you want the external temperature to come down as well, it’s recommended to buy a cooler.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Review: Camera
Because the REDMAGIC 6S Pro is a gaming-focused phone, we’ll only go over the camera part briefly.
Main Camera
The color of the camera is not very bright, but it’s closer to the real color. The resolution is good and the HDR strength is very strong.
The 6S Pro is not as good as it could be at night, especially with the Ultrawide Camera which does not have a night mode, but the main camera with night mode is fine for most everyday scenes.
Ultra-Wide Camera
The Ultra Wide Angle camera is good for most occasions but the absence of a night mode for wide shots is a drawback.
Macro Camera
As for the macro lens, it can be used occasionally when there is enough light. But don’t expect it to have great image quality.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Review: Battery Life & Charging
The charger and charging cable are included in the box. But like the 6 Pro, although the phone supports 66W wired charging, the charger inside the box is only 30W. But because you can use the built-in fan to reduce the temperature when charging, so you can almost always charge at full power.
5 minutes tops up the battery to 11%, another half an hour to 62%, and 55 minutes to full charge. Although the 6S Pro has a large 5050mAh battery, it consumes more power in the gaming section because of its high performance. 20 minutes of Genshin Impact and Brightridge consume 18% and 16% respectively, 10% for PUBG. Daily applications do not consume a lot of power as 1080P online video only consumes 2% and while Tiktok around 5%.
REDMAGIC 6S Pro Review: Verdict
REDMAGIC 6S Pro is not a significant upgrade compared to the 6 Pro in the first half of the year. If you already have the REDMAGIC 6 Pro, there is no need to buy the 6S Pro. But If you want to buy a gaming phone now, you can definitely check out the REDMAGIC 6S Pro.
After all, REDMAGIC’s flagship phones should be one of the few devices that can leverage Snapdragon 888+’s full power output, not to mention that built-in fan works really very well.
