The Redmagic 8 Pro was announced back in January and received favourable reviews from most critics.
I have finally got my hands on a review sample, and this is the new titanium model, which has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
I will be posting my full review of this phone at the same time as this post. For this article, I am focussing on the performance of the phone. It is a gaming phone, and therefore this is one of the most important aspects. It is also the first time I have used a phone with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Redmagic 8 Pro Specification
- SoC: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Display: 6.8 inches, 1116p, up to 120Hz
- RAM: 12GB / 16GB
- Storage: 256GB / 512GB
- Battery: 6000mAh
- Operating System: Android 13
- Front camera: 16MP, 2nd generation under-display-camera (UDC)
- Rear cameras: 50 MP, f/1.9 primary / 8MP, f/2.2 ultrawide
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 802.11, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G
- Dimensions: 164 x 76.4 x 8.9 mm (6.46 x 3.01 x 0.35 in)
- Colours: Black / Transparent / Titanium
- Weight: 228 g (8.04 oz)
- Charging: 65W wired
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Specification
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Process | TSMC 4nm (N4) | TSMC 4nm (N4) |
| CPU | 1x 3.19GHz (Cortex-X3) 2x 2.8GHz (Cortex-A715) 2x 2.8GHz (Cortex-A710) 3x 2.0GHz (Cortex-A510) | 1x 3.2GHz (Cortex-X2) 3x 2.5GHz (Cortex A710) 4x 1.8GHz (Cortex A510) |
| GPU | Adreno 740 (ray tracing support) | Adreno 730 |
| DSP | Hexagon (fused scalar, tensor, and vector) Mixed precision INT8/INT16 INT4 support | Hexagon (fused scalar, tensor, and vector) Mixed precision INT8/INT16 |
| RAM | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Camera support | • 200MP single shot • 108MP single with zero shutter lag • 64MP+36MP with zero shutter lag • Triple 36MP with zero shutter lag • Hybrid AF • 10-bit HEIF image capture • HDR video • Multi-frame noise reduction • Real-time object classification, segmentation, and replacement • Video super resolution | • 200MP single shot • 108MP single with zero shutter lag • 64MP+36MP with zero shutter lag • Triple 36MP with zero shutter lag • Hybrid AF • 10-bit HEIF image capture • HDR video • Multi-frame noise reduction • Real-time object classification, segmentation, and replacement • Video super resolution |
| Video capture | 8K @ 30fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fps | 8K @ 30fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps 720p @ 960fps |
| Video playback | 8K up to 60fps 4K HDR up to 120fps AV1, H.265 and VP9 video decoder 360 degree | 8K 4K HDR up to 120fps H.265 and VP9 video decoder 360 degree |
| Charging | Quick Charge 5 | Quick Charge 5 |
| 4G/5G Modem | X70 LTE/5G (integrated) 10,000Mbps down 3,500Mbps up | X65 LTE/5G (integrated) 10,000Mbps down (3,000Mbps up assumed) |
| WiFi | Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6/6E (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), 802.11a/b/g/n | Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), 802.11a/b/g/n |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.2 |
A quick reminder, the older Redmagic 7 Pro used the normal Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This was mostly the same as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, except it was made on Samsung’s 4nm fabrication process and had a lower clock speed of 3.0GHz on the Cortex-X2.
The switch of the fabrication process was the main upgrade. It had a significant improvement for battery life and reduced thermal throttling. The SD8 Gen 2 sticks with the superior TSMC fabrication process.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Benchmarks
As always with Redmagic, it is worth remembering that these are gaming phones and are tuned to prioritise performance over battery efficiency.
Since the launch of the SD888, Redmagic is one of the only brands I have tested that has almost no thermal throttling for 3Dmark Wildfire stress testing.
Antutu
| Total | CPU | GPU | MEM | UX | Temp Increase | Battery Decrease | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redmagic 8 Pro Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | 1264868 | 262486 | 563610 | 253489 | 185283 | 10.8 | 5 |
| Redmagic 7S Pro Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 | 1089418 | 259276 | 461234 | 191368 | 177540 | 10.3 | 4 |
| Redmagic 7 Pro Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | 1000121 | 222950 | 444093 | 162923 | 170155 | 11.3 | 10 |
| Honor Magic4 Pro Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | 938464 | 197169 | 440631 | 148260 | 152404 | 10.7 | 5 |
The phone starts off well with a significant 16% improvement from the previous generation. The temperature and battery decrease is fractionally more than the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, but still much better than the Samsung fabricated Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Looking at the breakdown of scores, there is barely any difference with the CPU, just a 1.23% improvement.
For the GPU, you get a 22.2% improvement.
Memory is a massive 32.5% increase.
Then for the UX it is a 3.4% improvement.
The temperature increase was higher than the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 but is around the same as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The battery only dropped 3% from 100%, which is significantly better than the Redmagic 7 Pro, and slightly less than the 7S Pro, however, this has a 20% larger battery.
Page 2 of benchmarks for 3DMark Wildfire Stress Testing & Thermal Throttling, Geekbench & PCMark
Originally posted on mightygadget.com – Follow on Twitter – Instagram – Facebook – Mighty Gadget Latest Reviews
I am a UK tech blogger and have been in the industry for over 10 years now, running Mighty Gadget and its sister sites and contributing to other sites around the web. I am passionate about all tech, including mobile, wearables, and home automation. I am also a fitness fanatic, so I cover as much fitness tech as possible.