Redmagic 11S Pro review: A raw gaming powerhouse featuring liquid cooling and a massive battery
You get a totally clean, uninterrupted view because the selfie camera is hidden under the screen. Picture: Noel Campion.
I’ve been living with the Redmagic 11S Pro for a while now, and it really is a powerhouse. It’s an update to the 11 Pro I reviewed six months ago, specifically using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Leading Version. The CPU clocks up to 4.74GHz, compared to 4.6GHz on the standard 11 Pro.
Redmagic doesn't hide its gamer roots, and the 11S Pro goes all in. Most phones today need a massive camera bump to have good cameras, but Redmagic knows its fans want raw power more than professional photography. The flat back and exposed cooling look wild, especially with the optional transparent panel, which lets you see the liquid-cooling system in action.The 11S Pro is a big phone with large shoulder triggers and an almost all-screen display. It has IPX8 water resistance, so it can handle a brief dunk. At 230g, it’s a bit heavier than your average flagship, but the flat sides keep it feeling balanced in your hand.
The 6.85-inch BOE X10 AMOLED screen is one of my favourites, with a 95.3% screen-to-body ratio and ultra-narrow 1.25mm bezels. Since the selfie camera is hidden under the display, you get a totally clean view with no notches or holes. It hits about 1,800 nits and colours look great. The 144Hz refresh rate makes everything feel incredibly smooth. It isn't an adaptive LTPO panel, so you can't drop the refresh rate to save battery. You basically have to choose between speed and power longevity, but for gaming, it’s top-tier. The touch sampling is so fast that even the lightest taps in shooters register instantly.
Cameras aren't why you buy a Redmagic. The 50MP main and ultrawide lenses are fine for daytime shots and have decent dynamic range. The main camera actually handles low light with decent results. The ultrawide gets a bit noisy in low light, and the 2MP macro feels a little pointless.
The 16MP under-display selfie camera is okay for video calls, but it’s not great for stills. At least the main camera can handle 4K at 60fps and even 8K footage.
Under the hood, the 11S Pro uses an upgraded Snapdragon chip plus Redmagic’s R4 gaming chip. My review handset had 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The 11S Pro tops out at 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, unlike the 11 Pro, which had a top configuration option of 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. This isn’t surprising, considering the RAM price hikes due to the massive construction of AI data centres, which consumed approximately 70% of global memory production capacity.
You still get a 3.5mm headphone jack, a super fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that works even with wet fingers, and a USB-C port that can output 4K to a monitor.
It’s worth noting that the 11S Pro doesn’t support e-SIM.
The new AquaCore liquid cooling is, well, cool. Watching the liquid move under the glass never gets old, but the stability is what matters. I played my usual library of games, and the fps stayed locked. Even heavy titles ran great, but I can’t say the performance was any better than the 11 Pro. The 24,000 RPM fan does kick in, and while you can hear it, it’s not too loud.Just like it did with the 11 Pro, it got quite hot during the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme stress test and even failed once in "Rise" mode. But for actual gaming, I have yet to test a phone that can match it for sheer performance. The triggers, haptics, and loudspeakers make it an experience. I even managed to play some PC games via GameNative, though setting that up takes some trial and error.
The 11S Pro sees a 500mAh bump to an 8,000mAh dual-cell battery in the Chinese version, but sticks with the 7,500mAh capacity for the European version. I easily got a full day of heavy use, but if you aren't gaming constantly, you will stretch it to two days or more. It supports 80W wired and 80W wireless charging, plus reverse charging for your accessories.
Redmagic OS 11.5 (Android 16) feels cleaner than before. It’s close to stock Android but has plenty of gaming tweaks and AI features via Google Gemini and the Mora assistant.
The Redmagic 11S Pro is the ultimate gaming phone, though the changes from the 11 Pro are negligible. It pairs massive performance with crazy cooling and a beautiful screen. If you care about cameras, look elsewhere. But for gamers? It's hard to beat.
From €799 Redmagic
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