Redmagic 11S Pro Review
Redmagic 11S Pro pros and cons
Unrivalled gaming performance with upgraded Snapdragon processor.
Massive 7500mAh battery continues to deliver power for days.
Expansive 144Hz AMOLED display with under-display selfie camera.
Redmagic's take on Android OS still needs refinement, and longer support.
Middling camera setup.
No eSIM compatibility.
Redmagic maintains its dominance in the gaming phone space with the new 11S Pro - another rapid refinement to their range of impressive devices.
Unapologetically focusing on frame rates, desktop-grade cooling and battery life, the Redmagic 11S Pro continues to win the specs arms race.
However, it only makes it more apparent that improvements to the core user experience will keep their smartphones head and shoulders above rapidly dwindling competition.
Check out our Redmagic 11S Pro review to see what's changed...and importantly what hasn't.
Design and specifications
A mere six months after the launch of the Redmagic 11 Pro comes the 11S Pro - a smartphone sequel that is marked by several tune-ups and modifications under the bonnet, as opposed to a dramatic facelift.
Thankfully, the 11S Pro has a spectacular chassis to build upon by maintaining its bold, gamer-focused stylings.
Boxy, bulky and camera bump-free, the Redmagic 11S Pro features an aluminium alloy frame sandwiched by Corning Gorilla Glass on the front and rear, continuing its streak of a striking transparent design that has become immediately recognisable.
This premium form factor remains thick at 8.9mm and heavy at 230g, but its bulk is entirely deliberate and functional, housing both a liquid-cooled system and an array of capacitive controls.
The two 11S Pro colour variants - dubbed Nightfreeze (or black) and Subzero (silver) to reinforce its cooling credentials - continue to visibly showcase an array of light-up logos, Redmagic branding and internal hardware on the rear, including an RGB-illuminated fan and circular pathways of liquid-chilled innards that debuted on the 11 Pro.
Along the metal frame, a pair of ultra-responsive shoulder triggers give additional buttons for first-person shooters, while a trio of physical keys offer up a volume-rocker, power button and customisable textured red 'Magic' slider defaulting to one-flick instant access to Redmagic’s gaming hub.
The other side is less exciting, although it is also home to a smaller light strip and some decidedly unsubtle ‘game mode’ branding.
Its looks may remain divisive, but at this point, the transparent frame and flat form factor are Redmagic’s calling card and seem unlikely to be going anywhere - and neither are the inevitable fingerprints from such a reflective surface.
The Redmagic 11S Pro does sport an IPX8 water resistance rating, offering crucial peace of mind against accidental submersion. Whilst the ‘X’ rating does denote that dust and dirt ingress isn’t part of the 11S Pro’s formal protection scoring, the design is carefully crafted to shield it from the elements.
The first meaningful upgrade over the 11 Pro is the revision to a top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 ‘Leading Version’ processor in the 11S Pro to boost gaming horsepower, coupled with either 12 or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 or 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage.
Important to note that the silver Subzero variant will only be offered in a higher-specced 16GB and 512GB configuration, and the model received for review.
Connectivity features are very much present and correct in the 11S Pro, with both Wi-Fi 7 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 support, as well as space for two physical SIMs - although the continued lack of eSIM support in a current generation smartphone feels like a miss.
Redmagic PR did recognise this, and spoke to no plans for things to change regarding eSIM in their current roadmap, citing ‘factors such as regional carrier support, product positioning and overall compatibility strategies’.
All makes sense, but between this and some drawbacks on the software side (more on this later), it does seem like an area which could move Redmagic’s output - even a little - from niche device to daily driver material.
All in all, the Redmagic 11S Pro is largely the same as the 11 Pro, but continues to offer a well-rounded hardware experience of topping the charts where it counts.
Display and audio
The Redmagic 11S Pro retains an expansive 6.85-inch BOE X10 AMOLED screen, complete with an up-to 144Hz refresh rate with a crisp 2688 x 1216 resolution.
A 20:9 aspect keeps things cinematic, and the under-display selfie camera and a massive 95.3% screen-to-body ratio ensure minimal distractions whilst gaming and viewing content alike.
You’ll not spot the slight difference in screen quality where the camera is housed unless hunting for it, and it’s a small price to pay for a notchless display.
Equally impressive is a responsive ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the lower third of the display, and we found there to be no issues in terms of use, both in low-light and moist conditions.
On the topic of moist conditions, the welcome addition of a ‘wet hand mode’ means that even the sweatiest of gamers lose nothing in terms of responsiveness on the tactile display.
The screen is highly responsive, boasting a 360Hz standard touch sampling rate that peaks at a near-instantaneous 3,000Hz for split-second inputs via a dedicated chip - all the difference when taking a PVP match down to the wire, as well as just poking and swiping around menus.
Visibility in brightly lit environments is decent, supported by a peak brightness of 1,800 nits, with Rhineland and SGS certified protection via 2,592Hz PWM dimming to reduce flicker.
Sound is robust and immersive for content and calls from the 11S Pro, courtesy of an upgraded dual-stereo setup utilising a pair of high-fidelity speakers.
These deliver a wider soundstage and deeper bass than previous iterations, and importantly do so with minimal rattle or unwanted additional vibrations in the body of the device, even at maximum volume - a common issue in improved audio arrangements.
Crucially, Redmagic has continued to keep the 3.5mm headphone jack, an incredibly rare feature in modern smartphones and an asset for those demanding lag-free wired audio - bonus points for the 11S Pro!
Camera capabilities
Photography may be a secondary concern for the 11S Pro’s target audience, but the camera setup here is a massive step forward from earlier devices, yet remains serviceable rather than stellar.
The primary rear array relies on a 50MP OmniVision (a 1/1.55" OV50E4 with f/1.88 aperture and 23mm equivalent focal length) sensor anchored by Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and an advanced APL-coated anti-glare coating to clear up lens flare.
Flanking the main sensor is a second 50-megapixel effort, this time a wide-angle lens (a 1/2.88" OV50D40 with f/2.0 and a 14mm equivalent focal length) equipped with autofocus, alongside a basic 2-megapixel camera for macro duties.
The 11S Pro’s primary and wide-angle cameras can capture completely adequate, colour-accurate images in bright daylight, but the system can struggle somewhat when it comes to dynamic range and moving subjects in low-light environments.
The lack of a telephoto lens is disappointing at this price point, but it's entirely clear that the budget has gone elsewhere on a device of this nature.
Images captured during a Bank Holiday trip to Norfolk were good on the whole - some imprecision during portrait images was apparent, but capturing contrast and a degree of detail in both macro mode and despite the glare of the blazing sun was effective on the 11S Pro, whilst both its flat form and the dust and water protection meant a quick wipe of the lenses was easy during trips along the beach.
Around the front, the 16MP under-display camera handled basic video calls capably, but with the physical screen matrix resting directly above the lens does lightly impact raw sharpness.
That being said, the occasional selfie taken with the 11S Pro was competent - steady and colour-accurate, even on a boat in choppy waters - but naturally paled in comparison to devices boasting photography as their forte.
The 10x zoom ended up not being terribly effective, with processing on any images losing a great deal of clarity, gaining some of those tell-tale ‘blobs’ that subjects begin to become when AI enhancements make an approximation of an image.
There were also a couple of rare instances where captured images came out incredibly pixellated - there’s that usual experience in Google Photos where a base image loads in and is then replaced by the original, higher quality photo…only it just didn’t upscale! A bit of a shame, but only on a few images out of the hundreds of samples taken as part of this review.
Video tops out at a surprising 8K with 30 fps, but harbours many of the same challenges found with still images in terms of colour accuracy over crispness, as well as picking up a surprising amount of wind noise when capturing content.
So image capture continues not to be Redmagic’s strong suit in the 11S Pro, but it does remain both an area we’d sorely like to see improved in a true sequel, as well as one of those fundamental areas for consumers that keep their devices from being considered as an all-rounder.
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Performance and software
Raw processing power is where the Redmagic 11S Pro flexes its muscles - and it simply blows away the competition, before you take into account the compelling price point.
It utilises the best-in-class Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Leading Version, capable of clock speeds up to 4.74GHz and absolutely decimating anything thrown at it.
Our usual demo games - Where Winds Meet, Wuthering Waves and Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat - absolutely shine when fired up on the 11S Pro, running at a buttery-smooth frame rate with only the occasional hitch.
Despite everything being cranked to the max on Genshin Impact and lots of warnings from it around overclocking, it maintained a fairly stable 60fps throughout, with similarly sterling performance from Devil May Cry despite being on ‘super-high’ settings for everything from resolution to textures and shadows.
The Snapdragon chip works in concert with not only an Oryon CPI and an Adreno 840 GPU - so it’s certainly no slouch when it comes to performance - but also a dedicated Redmagic Redcore R4 processor managing haptics, display resolution scaling and power management to turn the 11S Pro into a beast with major improvements over previous models.
None of this would be possible without Redmagic’s ground-breaking - if a little crazy - AquaCore Cooling System. The industry’s first liquid-cooled device to go into general production, the 11 Pro set the standard for both gaming prowess and stamina, with the 11S Pro picking up the baton and delivering further performance gains.
Married to a massive dedicated vapour chamber, Liquid Metal 3.0 thermal paste and a powerful fan running at up to 24,000 RPM, and you have a recipe for dealing with the most demanding of titles in the Redmagic 11S Pro.
Given that enterprising gamers have even leveraged the incredible Gamehub Android emulator to competently play the most demanding of modern AAA PC games on Redmagic devices, it’s a testament to the sheer horsepower brought to bear on the 11S Pro.
When it comes to software, however, we continue to have reservations…but respect the steady progress Redmagic continues to make on this essential aspect.
Running on Android 16 with a bespoke Redmagic OS 11.5 overlay, the 11S Pro’s interface continues the enthusiast-gamer aesthetic with a bevy of apps, icons, and wallpapers.
The software experience is dominated by the Game Space overlay - accessed with a flick of the dedicated slider, offering deep customisation of performance profiles, shoulder trigger mapping and shortcuts for access to your favourite titles.
Google’s Gemini AI is built into the OS for live translation and circle-to-search functions, whilst there are also the usual bits of bloatware and dedicated news apps for users to add or remove to their own taste upon boot.
Once again, we find ourselves using our review to make an impassioned plea for Redmagic to take a moment, hire an external design agency like Pentagram or Wolff Olins, and work to create an operating system worthy of such great hardware!
Look, we love the Redmagic mascot Mora - an AI-powered anime girlfriend who can embed herself into every aspect of the 11S Pro’s user experience down to the home screen if you so choose - as well as Game Space, which lets players tweak and tailor features to their heart’s content.
These are elements which ought to stay and have become part of Redmagic’s DNA, but the small bugbears of somewhat clunky menus, typos and surprising design decisions would benefit massively from the same care and attention that so clearly goes into the hardware.
Redmagic’s software support policy is also a bit surprising, with just two Android OS updates (which is actually an increase as of the 11 Pro) and 5 years of security support - a blink of an eye compared to Samsung’s frankly astonishing 7 years of maintenance across its latest Galaxy devices.
To expect bleeding-edge gamers to have such a relatively brief window of software upgrades is a bitter pill to swallow, and puts both Redmagic’s keen pricing and breakneck development cycles into perspective a little…perhaps their preference is for players to upgrade rather than stick with a single Redmagic device for multiple years.
Irrespective of how strong the specs sheet is, users are going to be primarily interacting with the Redmagic 11S Pro through its operating system, and while alternative launchers like Nova and Niagara exist and can make things more navigable, the investment of time and money into a more refined, elegant and slick UI for the inevitable Redmagic 12 Pro could be the thing that takes this Chinese manufacturer into the mainstream - it continues to be a massive consideration point for consumers.
Battery life and charging
Battery life is an obvious standout feature for this smartphone, as the 11S Pro packs a colossal 7,500mAh battery - albeit the same size as that found in the 11 Pro - that easily powers through a full day of demanding gaming, effortlessly stretching into a second day of normal use.
Pleased to note that charging options are superb with both 80W wired and wireless charging options - a real novelty - as well as support for reverse wireless charging to top up devices less fortunate than your own.
Redmagic 11S Pro UK pricing and availability
The Redmagic 11S Pro continues the streak of highly competitive pricing for its impending June launch - £709 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration, which is only available in Nightfreeze black.
This does represent a £80 price hike versus the Redmagic 11 Pro - arriving with very similar baseline specs for just £629 back in November 2025 - but it still boasts decent value for money given the hardware served up here.
The higher-tier 16GB RAM and 512GB storage model is available for £799 in both the Nightfreeze and Subzero silver hues.
Early adopters can take advantage of Redmagic's generous launch incentives, which include a £30 Early Bird discount for a £1 deposit from the start of June, a free Mora Magnetic Badge and automatic entry into a competition to win additional merch.
Not as generous as some other pre-launch campaigns, but considering the price the 11S Pro is coming in at, to have further pricing incentives is a boon.
Final verdict
The Redmagic 11S Pro comfortably retains its crown as the best gaming smartphone on the market, offering iterative improvements to power and performance without compromise - at least when it comes to sheer grunt.
Clear concessions become apparent when it comes to imaging quality and the overall software experience, but these are clearly not a priority for Redmagic in the relentless pursuit of gaming perfection at an appealing price point.
Nonetheless, with forums ablaze with those unfamiliar with - but tentatively interested in - the Redmagic brand, a few refinements could open up a groundswell of fans beyond elite players.
Genuinely innovative technologies like liquid cooling sit alongside mass market plus points like a massive 7,500mAh battery, notchless display and phenomenal value for money, but decisions like a short lifespan of software support and no love for eSIMs seem like missing clear opportunities to venture into the mainstream.
Nevertheless, for those who demand the best in gaming performance, the Redmagic 11S Pro is a triumph…it’s just so close to being more than that.
