RedMagic 12 Pro review

Competition

The RedMagic 12 Pro surprised us with its price tag, and in a good way. We don't get to say this very often these days, unfortunately. The RedMagic 12 Pro is priced at $949/€899/£799 in the US, Europe and the UK, respectively, while the rest of the world can get it for around $899. That's for the base 12GB/256GB memory configuration, but you can go up to 16GB/1TB as well.

RedMagic found a way to retain the lucrative price tag from the previous generations, which puts the phone in a category of its own. The RedMagic 12 Pro is currently one of the few, maybe even the only one in some regions, Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6-powered phones and perhaps it has the best price/performance ratio, too.

Performance and pricing aside, the RedMagic 12 Pro is also one of the few gaming-centric Android phones around, and it may very well be the only option in some markets, like Europe or the US, for example.

Currently, there are no other manufacturers offering powerful handsets with gaming in mind, let alone affordable Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered devices.

Honor Win2 • OnePlus Ace 7 Pro

The Honor Win2 series and the OnePlus Ace 7 series are the only direct competitors, but they can only be found in China, at least for now. Both the Honor and OnePlus offerings come with huge batteries, powerful SoCs and active cooling fans.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra • Oppo Find X10 Pro Max • vivo X500 Pro Max • Xiaomi 17 Ultra

For those outside of China, you can only browse proper flagship phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 or Dimensity 9600 Pro chipsets, which all come at a much higher cost. They do outshine the RedMagic 12 Pro in terms of battery life (some of them) and camera prowess, but the RedMagic isn't built for pictures and videos in the first place.

Additionally, the RedMagic 12 Pro delivers a plethora of gaming-oriented features, most of which are useful: pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers and an unobstructed, full-screen experience. Features you won't be able to find on the mainstream flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Oppo Find X10 Pro Max, or the vivo X500 Pro Max.

Verdict

Our verdict hasn't changed much from the previous generation. The RedMagic 12 Pro remains one of the very few true gaming phones available globally, and it's arguably the most affordable way to get your hands on Qualcomm's latest and greatest chipset.

The unique gaming features are still here, and the newly added Steam game compatibility is a welcome bonus, with plenty of processing power to back it up. The active cooling system, however, seems to be mostly for show, as switching it on made no difference to the performance drop in our stress tests. At least it looks cool. Camera performance remains underwhelming, and the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack is particularly disappointing on a gaming phone.

Still, the RedMagic 12 Pro has two major selling points that are hard to overlook. It's one of the few purpose-built gaming flagships you can actually buy outside China, and it delivers top-tier performance at a price that significantly undercuts most mainstream flagships. For gaming enthusiasts who value raw power and dedicated gaming features over camera quality and all-round refinement, it's an easy recommendation.

Pros

• Distinctive, premium-looking flat design with IP68/IP69 protection.
• Large 185Hz OLED display with an under-display camera for an uninterrupted full-screen experience.
• Excellent battery life.
• Exceptional price-to-performance ratio.
• Plenty of dedicated gaming features, including pressure-sensitive shoulder triggers.
• Well-executed support for gaming on external displays with peripherals.
• Support for running PC games from Steam.

Cons

• Low-light photos from the main cam come out too dark.
• Limited HDR video playback support (no HDR10+ or Dolby Vision).
• Speaker sound quality could be better.
• The active cooling system offers no measurable sustained performance benefit.
• 3.5mm headphone jack is now gone.
• Slower charging than the previous generation.
• No eSIM support.