RedMagic 11 PRO+ Review: The Ultimate Hardcore Gaming Phone

It must be said that as one of the few remaining “hardcore gaming phone” brands in China, RedMagic has its own unique approach to maximizing mobile phone cooling and ensuring the SoC can consistently perform at its peak.

However, as everyone knows, since this year, “built-in fan” cooling designs have gradually been adopted by other brands, and there are even rumors that some upcoming “business-oriented” flagship phones may also introduce built-in fans to solve heat issues.

In this context, can RedMagic’s “liquid + air cooling” design allow the new device to maintain its past “discontinuous lead” in performance and gaming experience?

With this question in mind, we conducted a dedicated performance test on the newly launched RedMagic 11 PRO+.

Appearance: Visibly Advanced Cooling Design, Maintaining a Flat Body and Holeless Screen

Before testing the performance of the RedMagic 11 PRO+ (hereafter referred to as RedMagic 11 PRO+), it is essential to look at its exterior design.

In today’s smartphone industry, RedMagic’s recent gaming phones have extremely distinctive design traits.

For instance, while other brands increasingly focus on larger rear camera modules—sometimes causing imbalance during gaming—RedMagic is the only brand sticking to a “flat” body design. Even though the RedMagic 11 PRO+ is equipped with a 50MP main camera + 50MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro triple camera module, it still maintains a perfectly flat rear surface.

Additionally, RedMagic is one of the few brands still using transparent aesthetic designs. The RedMagic 11 PRO+ offers three color variants: Dao Transparent Night, Dao Transparent Silver, and Dark Knight. The first two feature transparent elements with a strong gaming/eSports vibe, while the “Dark Knight” version opts for a more understated non-transparent design, catering to users who want gaming performance without drawing attention.

Compared with previous models, the RedMagic 11 PRO+ also innovates in how the transparent rear is presented. In the center of the back, it now features a large circular wireless charging coil, surrounded by the internal liquid cooling channels.

As mentioned in our prior technical analysis, the RedMagic 11 PRO+ incorporates an active circulation liquid cooling system based on piezoelectric micro pumps, using professional-grade fluorinated liquid as the coolant. Fluorinated liquid is non-conductive like pure water, can operate in extremely wide temperature ranges, and does not freeze even at -30 to -40°C, ensuring safe winter use in northern regions.

At the same time, the RedMagic 11 PRO+ retains an active air cooling system with through-channel design. Its fan speed reaches 24,000 RPM, with bidirectional heat transfer to move heat from both the front and back of the SoC into the airflow channel.

As a hardcore gaming phone, RedMagic 11 PRO+ also incorporates gaming elements in the frame beyond the cooling ports. On the other side, it features two capacitive shoulder buttons with larger touch areas than the previous generation. These buttons are slightly recessed relative to the frame, making blind operation easier.

The top-mounted 3.5mm headphone jack is another rare “alien tech” feature.

On the front, the RedMagic 11 PRO+ continues its signature “Wukong screen” (holeless design). The 6.85-inch display has no punch holes or notches, uses BOE X10 material, offers 2688*1216 resolution, supports up to 144Hz variable refresh rate, and has ultra-narrow bezels of 1.25mm, achieving a 95.1% screen-to-body ratio.

The main drawback may be its 2000-nit peak brightness, which feels slightly outdated, and the display lacks Dolby Vision, HDR10+, or HDR Vivid support, only offering basic HLG and HDR10 certification, leaving room for improvement in high-dynamic video playback.

Additionally, the entire RedMagic 11 PRO series uses a new Synaptics touch chip, supporting multi-finger 360Hz and instant 3000Hz touch response. This addresses user demand over the past two years for better touch performance.

Performance: Liquid + Air Cooling, Extreme Benchmark Scores Up to 4.4 Million

Next, we move to the highly anticipated performance testing.

All RedMagic 11 PRO models come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform, LPDDR5T RAM, and UFS 4.1 PRO storage. Except that the flash storage is not the absolute top-tier (Zone UFS or UFS array), other hardware specifications are generous.

The RedMagic 11 PRO+ also integrates several cooling measures into its “ICE Magic Cooling System,” including “4D Ice Step VC,” liquid metal thermal pads, the “WindMaster 4.0” fan, and the “Pulsed Liquid Cooling Engine.” So how does this affect theoretical performance?

GeekBench 6.4 – Normal Temperature (Left) vs Low Temperature (Right)

In GeekBench 6.4 CPU tests, the RedMagic 11 PRO+’s normal temperature score approaches other devices’ low-temperature performance. Using RedMagic’s “Demon Mode” to fully boost SoC frequency, scores could increase further with stronger cooling, but the difference is minor—mostly “breaking new highs.”

3DMark – Normal vs Low Temperature

Similarly, 3DMark tests, which take less time than GeekBench, show that RedMagic 11 PRO+’s combined liquid + air cooling enables GPU performance that other devices may not reach even under extreme cooling.

Antutu V11, known for its long benchmark duration, pressures devices early in the test. Phones with weak cooling quickly throttle. However, RedMagic 11 PRO+, with active water + air cooling, avoids throttling and achieves 4,086,707 points at room temperature—results that other phones might require external high-power coolers to reach.

In our low-temperature tests, the IPX8-rated fan and ultra-low-temperature coolant enabled a combined score of 4.4 million—prompting Antutu to flag it as “suspiciously high.”

Note that the tested device is a mid-tier 16GB + 512GB version, not the top-end 24GB + 1TB version, leaving room for even more extreme performance.

Gaming: High FPS, Super Frame Upscaling, and Significantly Lower Power Consumption

For hardcore gaming phones, advanced cooling and aggressive performance scheduling ensure smoother daily use. But fulfilling the “ultimate gaming demand” is the RedMagic 11 PRO+’s primary purpose.

Honor of Kings – Avg FPS: 121.08, Avg Power: 1985.23mW

In “Honor of Kings,” RedMagic 11 PRO+ does not consume more power than other phones on the same platform. Its aggressive scheduling is smart enough to optimize power.

Arknights: Escape from Tarkov – Non-Ray Tracing 144FPS: Avg FPS: 127.16, Avg Power: 3188.37mW

Ray Tracing 90FPS: Avg FPS: 89.67, Avg Power: 2130.47mW

High FPS stresses the device more than ray tracing.

Arknights – Ray Tracing + Super Frame – Avg FPS: 119.03, Avg Power: 3134.33mW

Using the RedCore R4 engine’s super-frame upscaling, the phone maintains over 120FPS while ray tracing, with more stable FPS than non-ray tracing 144FPS mode.

Naraka: Bladepoint – Max Quality: Avg FPS: 60.94, Avg Power: 2650.51mW

Although 90FPS support exists, our test version capped at 60FPS. Power consumption indicates 90FPS would be easily supported.

Honkai: Star Rail – Avg FPS: 60.97, Avg Power: 5383.40mW

Super Frame: Avg FPS: 119.19, Avg Power: 9172.22mW

Even in the most demanding scenarios, RedMagic 11 PRO+ handles full-frame super-smooth 120FPS gameplay with reduced power consumption compared to prior generations.

Fast Charging: 7500mAh + 120W, Both Speed and Longevity Stand Out

Large batteries and fast charging are essential for hardcore gaming phones.

RedMagic 11 PRO+ comes with a 7500mAh battery, 120W wired fast charging, and 80W wireless fast charging—the first for RedMagic.

In our test from 1% battery, the device reached 20% in just 5 minutes, 90% in 36 minutes. The final trickle charge from 90% to 100% took 13 minutes, likely improving battery longevity while supporting high-speed charging.

Conclusion: Leading Performance Benchmark, RedMagic Remains the Ultimate Gaming Phone

The RedMagic 11 PRO+ continues the brand’s highlights: flat body, holeless screen, shoulder buttons, advanced cooling, and extreme performance.

It also achieves further breakthroughs: exceeding the performance of similar platform devices without Zone UFS, lowering in-game power consumption, and implementing smart charging strategies to ensure battery life.

Additional features like 50MP triple rear cameras and 80W wireless charging enhance daily usability.

For players, RedMagic 11 PRO+ is the most extreme and powerful hardcore gaming phone of its generation, proving RedMagic’s strength in performance optimization and even non-gaming design capabilities.