The Razer Phone has some serious competition, as Nubia just introduced a new Red Magic Phone with beastly specs, focused on gaming, at just $400.
Red Magic is the gaming division of Nubia, which is under ZTE's umbrella, and this is its very first smartphone ever. Since so far the Razer Phone has been the only gaming smartphone available on the market, the new Red Magic Phone comes as a direct rival in the same niche. The new Xiaomi Black Shark phone will compete in the same category as well.
Meet The Red Magic Phone
The gaming-focused Red Magic Phone features a large 5.99-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9, slim bezels on the sides, and minimum edges at the top and bottom. It has a sleek anodized aluminum frame and rounded corners, while the back sports a prism-like design, higher in the center and lower on the sides.
This prism design reportedly aims to boost the phone's ergonomic factor so that it sits comfortably in the palm of the hand during extensive gaming sessions. Moreover, the raised ridge in the center of the handset's back panel features a RGB lighting strip with four possible lighting modes and a 16-million color output.
Red Magic also touts that its gaming smartphone is suitable for audiophiles, rocking four rear speakers toward each corner, with red highlights for extra effect. Audiophiles will likely welcome the baked-in DAC support, as well as the amplification technology employed.
Red Magic Phone Specs
Since it's a gaming smartphone, the Red Magic Phone comes with top-notch specs that should easily handle virtually any task. The handset packs a Snapdragon 835 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of native storage space, with no microSD support for extra storage.
The Red Magic Phone further boasts a special cooling system based on air convection, aiming to ensure that it doesn't overheat during intensive gaming sessions.
Other specs include a 24-megapixel rear camera with an f/1.7 aperture, an 8-megapixel front shooter, 4K video recording capabilities, and a massive 3,800 mAh battery that should deliver a strong performance on a single charge.
On the software side of things, the powerful Red Magic Phone comes with stock Android 8.1 Oreo, which means that it doesn't have any custom skin on top of Android. Most OEMs place their own UI on top, but a stock Android version could be more suitable for a gaming phone.
The Red Magic Phone further features a dedicated GameBoost button, which will allocate more resources to the game so that it improves the frame rate and the visuals. The smartphone also comes with a headphone jack at the top, and a USB Type-C port at the bottom.
Red Magic Phone Price And Availability
Red Magic will make its gaming smartphone available globally through a crowdsourcing campaign set to launch on April 26 on Indiegogo. The $400 price will be for early-bird customers, but the company has yet to reveal the full price of the handset for those who purchase it later on.
It remains unclear for now just when the Red Magic Phone should start shipping, but more details will likely become available once the Indiegogo campaign goes live. For now, Red Magic is hosting a giveaway, giving users the chance to win the new gaming smartphone.
