REDMAGIC 10S Pro Review: The Hardcore Gamer

Phone Arena

2 days ago

The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is the latest and the most advanced gaming phone from the brand. In typical gaming phone fashion, it takes hardware and software things a bit further compared to a regular flagship but still lags behind in camera performance.
However, there are some very cool features we wouldn't mind seeing on the next Galaxy phone, such as the active cooling system, the edge-to-edge screen with an under-display selfie camera, and the flush-with-the-back camera system. The REDMAGIC 10S Pro also features a supercharged, so to speak, version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, promising even more raw power, a huge 7050 mAh silicon-carbon battery, capacitive trigger buttons, hardware-activated gaming mode, and very fast charging.
The most basic configuration starts at $699, which is a bargain price considering all the bells and whistles inside. Without further ado, let's dive deeper!
Our composite review score tries to encapsulate the most important areas of the smartphone experience, and the values in each category have their own weight. Trying to be absolutely objective, each category consists of subcategories, with the idea to give you an overall score that reflects the phone's strengths and weaknesses. In this case the REDMAGIC 10S Pro scored quite high in wired charging, performance, and battery life, while software support, lack of wireless charging, and video quality dragged the final score down a bit.
Table of Contents:
Let's start with an overview of the REDMAGIC 10S Pro specs and a quick comparison to one of the biggest competitors out there:
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro has a distinctive design | Image by PhoneArena Gaming phone aesthetics have some specific elements other mainstream flagship phones lack. It's a "love it or hate it" situation most of the time. The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is a full-fledged gaming phone with all those distinct characteristics.For starters, the phone is a rectangular slab of metal and glass. It reminds us of early Xperia phones. However, the thin bezel around the screen and the under-display selfie camera make this phone look pretty awe-inspiring. If you ever wanted an all-screen phone, you can now have one.The two capacitive triggers are LED-lit, as is the active cooling (it's a small and super-fast fan). There's also the REDMAGIC logo as well as a big X on the back, both RGB illuminated. Another cool thing is the red serrated hardware slider. It's used for activating game mode in its default setting, but you can program it to be a mute slider, too.The back is pretty attractive, in our opinion. It uses transparent glass that's smoked toward the edge and shows some elements from the phone internals (mainly screws and covers). The camera system is flush with the body—it's under that glass, and the RGB fan mimics a third camera, even though the phone only has two.
One thing worth mentioning is that the LED flash is the only thing that's sticking out ever so slightly on the back of the REDMAGIC 10S Pro. We're not sure if engineering constraints dictated this, but it's a bit weird and ruins the overall sleek feel.
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro comes in three different colors | Image by REDMAGIC Color-wise, the palette isn't very colorful—the phone is available in three shades: Nightfall, Moonlight, and Dusk. These are all pretty monochromatic, and the Nightfall variant has an opaque back with a cool pattern on it.
Another generous retail box! Take notes non-gaming phones! | Image by PhoneArena
We won't delve deep into the retail box debate and whether or not removing stuff from it saves dolphins from plastic sticking to their faces. All we will say is that the REDMAGIC 10S Pro comes with everything you need to start using the phone right away. There's a charger, a USB-C cable, a neat back cover to protect the glass, and a pre-applied screen protector. So, you're all set!
It's a strange feeling holding an edge-to-edge display with no interruptions in it | Image by PhoneArena The REDMAGIC 10S Pro features a big 6.85-inch AMOLED screen with no curved sides or edges. It's completely flat, which makes the phone look and feel bigger. The under-display selfie camera is pretty well hidden, and the overall impression is quite futuristic—the phone looks like one huge display with a uniform 1.25mm bezel around it.
The panel itself is made by BOE and can go up to 144 Hz, but it's not an LTPO, so it can't do every step from 60 to 144. It can automatically switch between several modes (60 Hz, 90 Hz, 120 Hz, and 144 Hz), and you can also choose any of those manually.
In terms of screen brightness and image quality, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro is pretty much on par with other gaming phones , maybe not as bright when 100% of the pixels are lit, but in scenarios closer to real life (20% APL), the result is much closer.
The pixel density is quite decent at around 431 PPI, but the color calibration is a bit off with an average deltaE of above 4. Looking at the display with your naked eye and leaving calibration software aside, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro looks bright and vivid, even under direct sunlight.
Biometrics are done with an under-display optical fingerprint scanner. It gets the job done, but it's not as fast or as accurate as an ultrasonic one. There's facial recognition as well, but given the selfie camera is under the screen, we think it's not the most reliable and secure thing.
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro comes with a dual camera system, covering all the basics | Image by PhoneArena
- Our composite camera score tries to evaluate smartphone cameras as objectively as possible. It consists of a series of lab tests in controlled environment. In the case of the REDMAGIC 10S Pro, the phone scored pretty high with its main camera, but it is dragged down by the absence of a dedicated telephoto camera, a mediocre ultrawide snapper, and the compromised quality of the under-display front camera. You can check out our dedicated Camera Benchmark page for camera comparisons and more details.
Gaming phones haven't been known or famous for their camera prowess. We don't know where this notion came from, but apparently gamers don't like to snap quality photos. Well, okay—we might be a bit harsh here, but cameras have never been the focus on gaming phones , and this is the one area where compromises are usually made.We will find out if that's the case with the REDMAGIC 10S Pro soon enough, but prior to that, let's list the camera specs. The phone comes with a dual camera system, which consists of one 50MP main camera sensor under an f/1.9 lens, plus one ultrawide camera, also using a 50MP sensor and sitting under a lens with an f/2.0 aperture. The selfie camera is a 16MP one, and it sits under some pixels, neatly hidden (most of the time). Let's check out some samples. The samples taken with the main camera are decent, but the colors are very saturated. This becomes even more apparent when comparing the samples to the ones taken with the ultrawide.
The ultrawide images look much more realistic when it comes to color reproduction, but on the other hand, they don't feature the best dynamic range out there. When it comes to zoom samples, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro can produce decent 2X crops, but at 5X the digital zoom becomes quite noticeable, and there's a huge loss of detail.
Given that the front camera is tucked under the display, we find the overall quality of the selfie samples passable. It's much better than the first iterations of the technology, and the photos look okay, albeit a bit soft and overexposed. That's the price to be paid for having a hidden front camera, we guess.
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro can record videos with up to 8K resolution at 30 frames per second, although, to get the maximum out of the image stabilization we recommend sticking with 4K. The said image stabilization is quite good, and the videos in 4K look pretty decent with good detail and exposure.
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro features an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite, called Leading Version | Image by PhoneArena The phone comes equipped with an overclocked version (4.32 GHz to 4.47 GHz) of the best Qualcomm chip available at the moment—it's the Snapdragon 8 Elite, also called Leading Version. You can even see the moniker stamped on the back of the phone under the glass.This configuration features 2x4.47 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L cores and 6x3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M cores, plus an Adreno 830 GPU that goes up to 1200 MHz (from 1100 MHz) clock speed. The RAM on board starts at 12 GB, and you can also get a version with 24GB. Needless to say, with so much raw power on tap, the phone performs day-to-day tasks blazingly fast. You won't get any lag or stutter, and if you switch to a 144 Hz frame rate, the result is one of the smoothest experiences on a smartphone.
Leading version or not, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro is a solid performer. Interestingly, the CPU scores are on par with other Snapdragon 8 Elite smartphones, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra being the closest. We guess the "for Galaxy" treatment and this overclocked "Leading version" of the Snapdragon 8 Elite are quite similar. GPU Performance
The extra 100 MHz on the Adreno GPU unit really does make a difference, at least in benchmark scores. We reckon part of the great GPU performance (both peak and under load) is due to the active cooling. We never felt the phone was uncomfortably hot during those tests, which can't be said for other smartphones. Being a dedicated gaming phone , the REDMAGIC 10S Pro comes with some neat hardware features. The first, and most impressive, of which is the active cooling system. It features a 23,000 RPM fan that's also pretty quiet at 4 dB, backed up by a passive vapor chamber cooling design. There's a customizable RGB lighting system on the fan to show it to the ignorant public and also customizable sounds for when you engage it.
Another hardware feature reserved for gaming phones is the capacitive shoulder triggers. Here they are LED-lit and operate at a 520 Hz touch sampling rate. Invaluable when you need maximum screen real estate for gaming purposes and precise input via dedicated capacitive buttons.
Gamespace lets you turn the REDMAGIC 10S Pro into a dedicated portable console | Image by PhoneArena
Last but not least, the Magic Key lets you engage Gamespace and transform the phone into a portable gaming console. You can do a lot of stuff in there (deep software customization, but more about that in a second), and there's also a mascot (Mora) to keep you company during your gaming sessions. REDMAGIC 10S Pro Software
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro comes running Android 15 out of the box with the custom RedMagic OS on top. It's a pretty customizable skin, and you can choose various parameters, such as navigation, the icon size and skin, what happens when you slide the Magic Key, etc.
There's no learning curve to using this phone; you can go into deep customization, but only if you like to. You can also use the phone as is and not bother with Mora and putting her on your home screen (though it's pretty entertaining).
In terms of AI, there are some basic features available, such as AI translation (real-time, adding subtitles, in-call, etc.) and passive features like adaptive 5G, antenna boosting, and smart dual-SIM switching, although we wouldn't call these AI necessarily. Google Gemini is also available, so you can outsource all your AI queries to that LLM.
In terms of software support, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro will get two major OS updates and three years of security patches, which is quite short. Gamespace
Game Space is a shortcut to a dedicated gaming space (as the name implies) with your favorite games and a host of features to explore. In addition to all the hardware and software control options, such as the display refresh rate, CPU and GPU performance, fan speed and mode, crosshair, etc., you also get some really cool and useful tools.
Host Mode, for example, lets you play mobile games on a PC by connecting the phone directly to the monitor. You can also connect a keyboard and mouse to the phone in order to be extra precise and competitive when the game requires it.
You can also take notes during gaming, store screenshots, view statistics, and use different plugins. If you're serious about your mobile gaming, the REDMAGIC 10S Pro has a lot of useful tools to help you out. The REDMAGIC 10S Pro features an absolutely huge battery coming in at 7050 mAh. It's the largest cell we've ever tested on a smartphone, and unsurprisingly, the battery life is great. You can easily go through two full days, and even with everything at max (with RGB lights constantly on, fan blowing, and display set to high brightness mode), you will be hard-pressed to drain the battery in one day.The phone ranks third in our battery benchmark, and if we take the Xperia 10 IV out of the equation (the model features quite a slow chipset), it's second only to the Vivo X200 Ultra, and only by a couple of minutes. Impressive!
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro supports up to 80W of wired charging power, and you can fill the huge battery from zero to full in just 38 minutes. Another impressive result.
Fast charging but no wireless coils | Image by PhoneArena
Unfortunately, slapping such a huge battery on means there's not much space left for anything else, and that particular anything is wireless charging coils. There are none inside the REDMAGIC 10S Pro. So, if you like to charge your phone wirelessly, you're in no luck. Dedicated gaming smartphones usually have quite powerful and detailed stereo speaker systems. The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is no exception. The loudness is impressive, and there is little to no harmonic distortion at any frequency. The bass is detailed and also quite powerful.
As an added bonus, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug in any pair of headphones and enjoy even better audio. Finally, the haptics are pretty strong, as is to be expected on a gaming-centric device. The vibration is detailed and precise; we're pretty happy with the way REDMAGIC handles haptics—nothing to be desired here.
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is an impressive device | Image by PhoneArena
The REDMAGIC 10S Pro is a great device offering a great package for the money. The base RAM and storage variant (12/256GB) starts at $699, which is a steal of a price for what the phone has to offer. If you're willing to put up with the gaming aesthetics and the lack of wireless charging, you can get a lot out of this beast. The processor on board is one of the fastest in any Android phone to date, the battery is huge, and the edge-to-edge screen is a joy to look at.
The real drawback here is the camera system. Even though the main camera is pretty decent, the ultrawide and the selfie cameras are not on par with flagship phones, and the lack of telephoto shows in zoomed samples.