RedMagic 11 AIR Gaming Phone Review: Performance, Design, Features

In April 2025, Red Magic launched a new product line—the AIR series, with the first model being the Red Magic 10 AIR. No one expected that in less than a year, this series would welcome an upgraded version, directly switching to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition processor, and adding an active cooling system, RGB lighting effects, along with a transparent back case design. This is the Red Magic 11 AIR, a brand new gaming phone.

Severe Homogenization of Smartphones
Nowadays, the homogenization problem of smartphones is becoming increasingly severe. They all look quite similar, lacking novelty. Jiang Chao, the Product General Manager of Red Magic phones, once complained on Weibo, saying "iPhone 17 Pro, copying the 17 AIR," implying that many smartphone manufacturers are imitating Apple, not even bothering to change the model numbers.

Why is this the case? On one hand, current phone structures are becoming simpler: a large screen on the front, a few cameras on the back, leaving little room for design variety. On the other hand, some manufacturers find laziness more profitable than innovation, as many people are willing to buy a phone that looks similar to an iPhone to avoid hassle.

Highlights of Red Magic's Screen Innovation
However, the Red Magic brand has always been an "outsider" in the phone circle. They never accept fate; each phone considers how to be different from others. For example, the Red Magic 11 AIR uses a 6.85-inch large screen on the front, produced by BOE, with the screen using Q10 material. It achieves a 144Hz high refresh rate at 1.5K resolution, with particularly strong brightness, peaking at 1800 nits. The touch sampling rate is also impressive, reaching 960Hz globally, with an instantaneous boost to 2000Hz. It also features 2592Hz high-frequency PWM dimming and supports DC dimming mode, offering good eye protection. It has received both SGS Low Blue Light and national-level AMOLED dual certifications. This screen is quite suitable for both gaming and viewing content.

WuKong Full-Screen Experience
More importantly, the Red Magic 11 AIR uses a "WuKong Full-Screen" without any punch-hole. Although there is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera at the top of the screen, you can hardly detect its existence with the naked eye even up close; it is exceptionally well hidden. Combined with bezels only 1.25mm wide and a screen-to-body ratio of 95.1%, this screen truly delivers a very immersive visual experience.

Design Highlights of the Red Magic 11 AIR Back Cover
In addition to the full-screen design that differs from other brands, the back of the Red Magic 11 AIR is particularly notable—it comes in three color options: Quantum Black, Stardust White, and Aurora Silver. The unit we have is the Quantum Black version, featuring a transparent back case design that incorporates racetrack elements from "F1: Raging Speed," retro textures from vinyl records, and geometric patterns in the style of Mondrian, looking super distinctive. Combined with the RGB-lit logo and fan, its recognizability is maximized, making it instantly recognizable!

Red Magic 11 AIR: Ultra-Thin Large Battery Gaming Phone
Furthermore, the Red Magic 11 AIR uses an aluminum alloy middle frame, housing a large 7000mAh battery and supporting 120W Magic Flash fast charging, yet the body is exceptionally thin at only 7.85mm. Dual touch-sensitive shoulder buttons and a red gaming key are designed on both sides of the frame. These shoulder buttons support a 520Hz high refresh rate and feature anti-sweat design. When holding the phone horizontally with both hands for gaming, the index fingers naturally rest on these shoulder buttons, equivalent to adding a "physical cheat device" to the game, greatly enhancing combat effectiveness. For example, in FPS games, advanced operations like firing, scoping, sliding, jump sniping, and quick peeking can be performed with one button; in MOBA games, equipment can be swapped quickly. Moreover, users can customize these shoulder buttons according to their needs for more convenient and efficient operation.

Actual Performance Test Performance
Actual Performance Test

As a phone primarily focused on gaming, the Red Magic 11 AIR's performance is certainly not lacking. It not only uses Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition processor but also achieves a high-frequency memory specification of 9600Mbps (the tested model is the 16GB+512GB version) and has a built-in Red Core R4 self-developed gaming chipset. Combined with the flagship-level CUBE Sky-Supporting Game Engine, it enables millisecond-level performance scheduling through AI frame rate perception, truly achieving "no game lag, stable frame rates."

Upgraded Active Cooling System
To ensure the stable operation of this performance combination, the Red Magic 11 AIR introduces an active cooling fan for the first time in the AIR series—the Wind Control 4.0. This fan spins extremely fast, reaching up to 24,000 revolutions per minute, and adopts a blade design with high-low blade differentials to more effectively expel heat. Additionally, it uses an aviation aluminum air-cooling bracket, placing the highly conductive, lightweight aviation aluminum bracket and fan on the same horizontal plane as the chip, thereby improving cooling efficiency. Coupled with an ultra-thick Ice Step VC cooling plate, which further enhances internal heat dissipation through a double-sided convex structure and an ultra-high-density capillary reflux system.

Performance Certification and Test Performance
The Red Magic 11 AIR is no ordinary phone; it has already passed performance certifications for multiple top mobile game esports tournaments, including "QQ Speed Mobile" S-League, "League of Legends: Wild Rift" Super League, "CrossFire: Legends" Professional League, "Dark Zone Breakout" Pioneer Cup, and "Call of Duty: Mobile" (Chinese server) Masters. These tournaments are not easy to pass; being certified indicates its performance truly has the capability, backed by professional competitions.

Next, we will conduct a series of actual tests on the Red Magic 11 AIR to see just how powerful it is. First, we'll test theoretical performance using two software: AnTuTu and Geekbench 6. AnTuTu's total score is 3,362,975 points, with the CPU scoring 994,455 points and the GPU reaching 1,125,962 points. Looking at Geekbench 6 scores, the single-core score is 2,979 points, and the multi-core score reaches 9,694 points. These numbers look quite good. We will continue to test its temperature performance to see if it overheats under high load.

3DMark Performance Test Results
The second test is 3DMark. We used two demanding benchmark projects—Wild Life Extreme and Steel Nomad Light—to test the Red Magic 11 AIR's traditional rasterization performance and ray tracing performance. In the Wild Life Extreme test, the Red Magic 11 AIR scored 6815 points, with an average frame rate of 40.81 FPS. In the Steel Nomad Light ray tracing test, the score was 2551 points, with an average frame rate of 18.9 FPS.

Mobile Game Performance Test Results
In mobile game testing, we selected currently very popular "Genshin Impact" and "Honor of Kings." For "Genshin Impact," this time we played continuously for 30 minutes, with graphics set to the highest and frame rate set to the high frame rate mode of 60 FPS. We used the performance monitoring tool PerfDog to record the phone's actual frame rate performance. The result showed an average frame rate of 60.9 FPS, with a 1% low frame rate of 50.7 FPS, indicating that in some more complex graphical scenes, the frame rate dips slightly, but the overall impact is minor. Additionally, the average power consumption was 3356.9 mW. It seems that when handling such high-load games, the Red Magic 11 AIR, despite minor frame rate fluctuations, remains quite stable.

144Hz High Refresh Rate Game Support List
"Honor of Kings" is a game natively supporting 144Hz high refresh rate on the Red Magic 11 AIR. Besides this, games currently adapted for native 144Hz include "League of Legends: Wild Rift," "CrossFire: Legends," "Dark Zone Breakout," "Naruto Mobile," "QQ Speed Mobile," "Game for Peace," and "KartRider: Drift." In the future, more games such as "Delta Force," "Call of Duty: Mobile," "Teamfight Tactics," and "VALORANT Mobile" will be added, all supporting 144Hz high refresh rate.

During testing, I set the graphics to the highest, enabled the high refresh rate mode, and played a match lasting about 9 minutes. Actual measurements showed the Red Magic 11 AIR achieved an average frame rate of 145 FPS, with the lowest 1% frame rate at 135.2 FPS. The overall performance was very stable, almost a straight line. The average power consumption was 3301.9 mW, indicating quite good performance.

Red Magic 11 AIR Extreme Test
Next, let's test the extreme performance of the Red Magic 11 AIR by running 3DMark's Wild Life Stress Test while using an infrared thermometer to measure the phone's surface temperature (ambient temperature was about 23 degrees Celsius). Over 20 test cycles, the Red Magic 11 AIR's highest score was 25177 points, the lowest score was 20217 points, achieving a stability rate of 80.3%.

Fan Running at Full Speed Test
Towards the end of the Wild Life Stress Test, we measured the body temperature and found that the temperatures on the front, back, and air vent all exceeded 65°C. This shows the fan is not just for show; it's really working hard!

Excellent Temperature Control Performance of Red Magic 11 AIR
However, it should be noted that this Wild Life Stress Test is actually very extreme and differs from the phone's actual performance in games. In the 30-minute "Genshin Impact" run test, we simultaneously measured the phone's surface temperature. The result showed that the highest temperatures on both the front and back of the Red Magic 11 AIR were around 43°C, which is a decent performance, and this temperature is far lower than that under the Wild Life Stress Test.

Highlights of the Red Magic 11 AIR System
The Red Magic 11 AIR is Red Magic's first new phone released in 2026, naturally equipped with the latest version of REDMAGIC OS 11 system, and this system is completely ad-free, making it particularly refreshing to use. To allow players to access more games, the system also has a built-in PC emulator function. You simply need to long-press the red gaming key on the side of the phone to directly enter the game space, then find the PC emulator to easily experience PC games.

Red Magic Emulator Optimizes Gaming Experience
On the PC emulator, Red Magic has successfully solved issues related to architecture conversion between the Android system and PC, as well as compatibility issues with 3D graphics interfaces. Now users can smoothly play classic AAA titles like "Assassin's Creed: Rogue," "Tomb Raider (2013)," and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)," connect to watches, keyboards, and mice for operation, and even support casting to a monitor for play.

All AI Features Included
All currently popular AI features are present in the Red Magic 11 AIR, such as AI Circle Search, AI Object Recognition, and AI Tactical Coach. Simply call out "Mo Ji," and it can help identify various objects and engage in real-scene dialogue, super convenient.

Gaming Phone Camera Performance
Photography: Under-Display Front Camera + Dual Rear Cameras

Although the Red Magic 11 AIR is a phone primarily focused on gaming, its photography capabilities are not neglected at all. The front uses a 16-megapixel under-display camera, invisible during normal use and only appearing when needed. For the rear, there is a 50-megapixel main camera supporting optical image stabilization (OIS), paired with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. The main camera's focal length is 24mm, and the ultra-wide-angle is 14mm, offering a wider shooting perspective. The main camera can also shoot video up to 8K at 30 frames, with very clear image quality.

Below are sample photos taken by these three cameras:

Main Camera 1x Focal Length

Main Camera 2x Telephoto

Red Magic 11 AIR: Combining Personality and Performance
The Red Magic 11 AIR phone truly has a lot of personality; it completely defies convention. Currently, gaming phones on the market all look quite similar, but the Red Magic 11 AIR is different. It uses a "WuKong Full-Screen," along with a transparent back case and RGB ambient lighting, making it particularly recognizable at a glance.

In terms of configuration, it uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition processor, achieves a high-frequency memory specification of 9600Mbps, and is equipped with the Red Core R4 self-developed gaming chipset and Wind Control 4.0 active cooling system, delivering very powerful performance, especially ranking among the top in its price range. Moreover, it adds "shoulder button" external aids for more convenient operation, elevating the gaming experience to the next level.

Overall, the Red Magic 11 AIR is a phone that combines both personality and strength. It is not just an ordinary phone but more like a game console in your hand, suitable for players who pursue unique design and outstanding performance.