RedMagic 11S Pro review
Design and hardware
Visually, the RedMagic 11 Pro doesn't deviate much from the 10 Pro. Nubia continues to lean heavily into its signature industrial look, offering transparent backplates on two of its colorways. Our review unit is the Nightfreeze variant, also known as Black Transparent, but if you prefer lighter aesthetics, there is also the Subzero (Silver Transparent) option. Keep in mind that the Subzero variant is available only with 16GB/512GB memory.
Nightfreeze • Subzero
If you appreciate a sharp, boxy smartphone form factor, the RedMagic 11 Pro will immediately appeal to you. Handling the device feels like holding a seamless, monolithic piece of glass and metal, completely uninterrupted by camera protrusions. The rear camera hardware sits absolutely flush with the back glass, which is a rare and satisfying design achievement these days. The selfie camera has also been hidden under the screen.
One of the standout features of the previous and this generation is the inclusion of a visible liquid cooling setup dubbed AquaCore. The coolant pipelines are fully exposed and transparent. When you boot up a heavy game, and the physical cooling fan kicks into gear, you can actually see the liquid coolant flowing across the back plate. It's a neat, albeit gimmicky, visual party trick.
The customizable LEDs are integrated directly into the physical cooling fan and the RedMagic logo, with additional accent strips lined up along the sides and integrated into the shoulder triggers.
Cooling fan and shoulder triggers
Speaking of the sides, the right-hand side of the chassis feels notably congested. It accommodates the volume rocker, the power button, and the bright red slider for the dedicated Game Space mode. Because of this density, we frequently found ourselves fumbling and pressing the wrong button when pulling the device out of a pocket, but we guess you can get used to it in time.
In terms of structural integrity, nubia has made major strides compared to its predecessors. The front of the RedMagic 11S Pro is now shielded by a sheet of Gorilla Glass. More impressively, despite the open nature of its active cooling vents, the chassis secures an IPX8 certification for water resistance.
The flat middle frame is constructed from aviation-grade aluminum, housing the familiar pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers alongside the intake and exhaust vents for the fan.
The side frame is also home to a dual SIM tray. Note that there is no eSIM support on board here. Meanwhile, wired audio enthusiasts will be happy to find the 3.5mm headphone jack still intact along the top edge.
RedMagic 11S Pro
The capacitive shoulder triggers saw a slight performance bump with the previous generation. They now bounce to a 520Hz touch sampling rate. According to nubia, this makes them the speediest triggers in the mobile space, though, to be fair, they don't have much competition in this niche category to begin with. On the software side, you can now finally map these shoulder keys for games running in portrait orientation.
Tactile feedback gets a welcome upgrade as well. The phone retains its "4D" haptic vibration engine, though its deep integration is still restricted to a handful of supported titles like _PUBG Mobile_.
Interestingly, despite stuffing a significantly larger battery into the chassis and adding wireless charging coils to the motherboard, nubia managed to keep the physical dimensions identical to last year. The phone remains relatively chunky at 8.9mm, but it has maintained this exact profile for several generations now.
Lastly, the ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner is standard fare. It sits at a comfortable height, responds quickly, and we didn't experience many misreads or major hiccups during our testing.
All things considered, the aesthetic remains familiar. The AquaCore liquid visual element adds a unique feel and look, while the upgraded Gorilla Glass and IPX8 waterproofing provide much-needed peace of mind for daily durability. Still, those upgrades came with the previous RedMagic 11 Pro, and are not exclusive to the 11S Pro.
