REDMAGIC 10S Pro Gaming Phone Review

The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is a welcome, yet unsurprising, update to the company’s lineup. When a new, powerful mobile phone processor is announced, you know it’s only a matter of time before REDMAGIC is using it to power its latest flagship. Enter the 10S Pro with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version. Performance is a key priority for mobile gamers, and the 10S Pro looks to deliver the best possible experience. Here’s how the phone has fared during my review process.

Let’s talk specs

Diving right into the specs, there’s the aforementioned Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version chip, which is the overclocked variant. This is bolstered by the speedy LPDDR5T RAM and UFS 4.1 Pro storage. Clearly, the 10S Pro has the components required to speed through any and all tasks.

Just as previous REDMAGIC phones included a cooling solution to help tame the powerful components, the 10S Pro has its own 23,000 RPM fan, vapor chamber, and liquid metal solution. Initially, I was sceptical that such a small fan could make any real difference, but the benchmarks show that the 10S Pro’s cooling helps delay throttling in even the most intensive games.

The cooling can be enhanced by a fan attachment (sold separately). It’s not necessary, but it works well and certainly looks the part with the gamer aesthetic.

Time to game

When playing games, the 10S Pro’s display comes alive. It’s a 6.85” AMOLED screen with a 144 Hz refresh rate allowing for up to 144 FPS to be enjoyed in supported games. With the selfie camera hidden under the display, games and other content like movies can be enjoyed without interruption. Yes, the selfie camera quality is limited by being under the display, but for those whose priority is gaming first and taking selfies second, it could well be worth the trade-off.

Another spec worthy of highlighting is the massive 7050 mAh battery, which can be rapidly recharged by the 80W fast charging. While this is a fantastic win for non-stop gaming marathons, the big battery and fast recharge is also useful for daily use. The 10S Pro can last 2+ days with light usage. Users shouldn’t notice much battery drain during downtime.

Built to play

The shoulder triggers are here again with the 10S Pro, which are especially useful for shooting and racing games. They work as well as ever, and are easy to configure in REDMAGIC Game Space.

When putting the REDMAGIC 10S Pro through its paces in games and benchmarks, performance is unsurprisingly excellent. REDMAGIC simply doesn’t miss when refreshing its flagship phones. With that said, there are some shortcomings.

Two drawbacks

As with previous iterations, the 10S Pro has cameras that offer a “just okay” experience. Don’t expect flagship cameras that match the latest Pixel or iPhone, as the 10S Pro simply lacks the performance in low-light conditions and the under-display selfie camera is limited.

Another con against the 10S Pro is the lack of wireless charging. Again, some users might not care, but it’s worth mentioning.

Disclosure: Review sample provided by REDMAGIC.