Heads-up, mobile gamers: Nubia‘s gaming sub-brand, RedMagic, has introduced the world’s first gaming smartphones powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, with the launch of the RedMagic 9 Pro and RedMagic 9 Pro Plus in China.

(Update, March 21: The RedMagic 9 Pro, the best-performing Android phone on Antutu, is now in the Philippines!)

The company also announced a global release for the RedMagic 9 Pro, which is slated to go on sale beginning January 2, 2024. This international variant will launch December 18th, and it’s likely that it will be sold in the Philippines next year, too, considering the local availability of the RedMagic 8S Pro, which was priced from P47,999 ($865) at launch.

Similar to their predecessors, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2-based RedMagic 8S Pro and RedMagic 8S Pro Plus, which debuted earlier in July, the new phones are powered by Qualcomm’s latest and most powerful chip. And like the model before it, the RedMagic 9 Pro Plus arrives with a 24GB RAM top-end configuration, alongside 1TB of fast UFS 4.0 storage.

The company also says that the RedMagic 9 Pro series is the first to come equipped with an RGB fan to cool the internals and prevent thermal throttling. Speaking of which, the new cooling system is called ICE 13 and features an improved vapor chamber that has been expanded by 10,182mm², allowing operating temperatures to lower up to 18 degrees Celsius.

In China, the RedMagic 9 Pro starts at ¥4,399 (around $620 or P34,419 converted) for the 8GB/256GB RAM and storage setup, and goes up to ¥5,199 ($733 or P40,678) for the 12GB/512GB variant. Meanwhile, the base model of the RedMagic 9 Pro Plus with 16GB of physical RAM and 256GB of internal storage is priced from ¥5,499 ($775 or P43,025), while the 16GB/512GB and 24GB/1TB versions cost ¥5,799 ($818 or P45,373) and ¥6,999 ($987 or P54,762), respectively.

Besides the different configurations, the most notable difference between the RedMagic 9 Pro and RedMagic 9 Pro Plus lies in their battery capacities and wired-charging capabilities. The regular Pro version sees a larger 6,500mAh battery inside, coupled with slower charging at up to 80 watts, whereas the Pro Plus model trades a smaller 5,500mAh battery for faster 165-watt charging support.

Both phones pack a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip along with RedMagic’s self-developed Red Core R2 Pro gaming chip, resulting in “a 32% boost in CPU performance and a 34% enhancement in GPU performance.” Power consumption has also been cut down by 34% and 38% for the CPU and GPU, respectively.

The two handsets sport a 6.8-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a whopping 960Hz average touch sampling, just like the previous generation. You also get a 50-megapixel main camera at the back driven by Samsung’s GN5 image sensor as well as a 50-megapixel ultrawide option and a 16-megapixel under-display shooter for selfies.

RedMagic 9 Pro specs

• 6.8-inch AMOLED display with 2,480 x 1,116 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 960Hz touch sampling rate
• 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 5G chipset
• Adreno 750 GPU
• 8GB/12GB LPDDR5x RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 4.0 storage
• 50-megapixel main, 50-megapixel ultrawide, and 2-megapixel macro cameras
• 16-megapixel under-display front camera
• Under-display fingerprint reader
• 6,500mAh battery
• 80-watt wired charging
• ICE 13.0 cooling system with built-in RGB cooling fan
• Two shoulder triggers
• RedMagic OS 9 based on Android 14
• Colors: Black, Transparent Black, Transparent Silver

RedMagic 9 Pro Plus specs

• 6.8-inch AMOLED display with 2,480 x 1,116 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 960Hz touch sampling rate
• 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 5G chipset
• Adreno 750 GPU
• 12GB/16GB/24GB LPDDR5x RAM
• 256GB/512GB/1TB UFS 4.0 storage
• 50-megapixel main, 50-megapixel ultrawide, and 2-megapixel macro cameras
• 16-megapixel under-display front camera
• Under-display fingerprint reader
• 5,500mAh battery
• 165-watt wired charging
• ICE 13.0 cooling system with built-in RGB cooling fan
• Two shoulder triggers
• RedMagic OS 9 based on Android 14
• Colors: Black, Transparent Black, Transparent Silver

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