Like gaming laptops, gaming phones stuff super-powered components into big, brash cases, designed to offer the ultimate in performance for your mobile games – and the latest to hit the market is the Nubia RedMagic 6 series.
Following on from the RedMagic 5G that we saw last year, the new handset is absolutely packed with power. It runs on the Snapdragon 888 processor that's set to be the top chipset for Android phones throughout 2021, and also manages to fit in plenty of RAM too: up to 12 GB on the standard edition, and up to 18 GB on the Pro model.
That's a lot of memory – more than many gaming laptops in fact – which raises the question of whether or not the RedMagic 6 packs in more power than you're actually ever going to need. In terms of internal storage, the options go up to 256 GB on the standard model and 512 GB on the RedMagic 6 Pro.
Nubia has fitted what it calls a multi-dimensional cooling system to keep all of these high-end components at a reasonable temperature, combining a vapor chamber with graphite, copper coils, a high-speed fan and even a miniature wind tunnel to help clear hot air from inside the case. Also helping gamers are the two shoulder triggers on the corners of the handset, which should save you some on-screen tapping.
The specs continue to impress when it comes to the screen on these handsets as well. Both sport a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 1,080 x 2,400 pixel resolution and a refresh rate that goes all the way up to 165 Hz. The RedMagic 6 comes with a 5,050-mAh battery, while the RedMagic 6 Pro settles for a battery capacity of 4,500 mAh – though both are at the higher end of the scale for modern-day phones.
We're assuming gamers will be less interested in the camera capabilities, but there's a single-lens 8-MP selfie camera on the front and a triple-lens 64-MP wide + 8-MP ultrawide + 2-MP macro camera on the back. 5G is on board, and the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard is supported for ultra-fast connectivity.
On the software side, these phones come running the latest Android 11 software, with Nubia's own skin on top. There are apparently more than 100 built-in optimizations to help ensure a smooth gaming experience, including CPU, GPU and memory management tricks for ramping up performance when it's needed.
Only Chinese pricing has been announced for now. The RedMagic 6 starts at 3,799 yuan and the RedMagic 6 Pro goes all the way up to 6,599 yuan. Based on a rough currency conversion that equates to a price range of about US$585-$1,015, though Nubia is unlikely to use a conversion like that to set international prices. We should learn more at the handset's global launch on March 16.
Product page: Nubia RedMagic 6
