Nubia’s gaming brand, RedMagic, is renowned for its premium gaming phones, but its latest might well have become the ideal all-rounder we’ve been looking for.
The RedMagic 12 Pro is the global version of the 12 Pro+ launched in China recently, and for me it hits the sweet spot between a gaming powerhouse and an everyday device.
It’s just been launched in numerous regions around the world, including the UK, Europe and the US, with open sales starting on 18 November 2026. There will also be early bird pre-order offers in the build-up, but in all fairness its official RRP is already impressive.
Available from £799 / €899 / $949, the RedMagic 12 Pro offers great value for money. It runs on Qualcomm’s most powerful processor to date – the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 – and up to 16GB of RAM. And you can get up to 1TB of storage.
There’s also a 6.85-inch 1.5K BOE X11 LPTO OLED display with an extremely thin bezel around the edge that’s less than a millimetre thick. It has a 185Hz refresh rate too – a “first” for the industry.
(Image credit: Rik Henderson / Future)
RedMagic 12 Pro: first impressions
However, having used one for a week or so before the European launch, perhaps the most impressive upgrade over the RedMagic 11 Pro is that the successor is thinner, lighter and, well, friendlier.
You still get a whole lot of gaming-specific features, such as liquid cooling that now includes the ability to change the LED lighting to any colour you fancy (or set it to cycle through them). And the trigger buttons are still ranged along one side. But it just feels more like a premium Android phone this time around, not just a high-end games handheld.
(Image credit: Rik Henderson / Future)
The 8,400mAh battery is also a win – and yes, that’s available on the UK and EU models too. I ran the phone normally and it lasted more than a day for sure. Heavy gaming might stretch it somewhat, but it’s still a decent generational bump.
There’s 80W fast charging on board too, so it doesn’t take long to top it up. And you get up to IP69 protection from water and dust, although it’s worth noting the cooling system is only rated at IPX8 due to its “independent airflow channel design”.
The only compromise I’ve encountered so far, in my initial testing, is that the cameras aren’t really a priority for RedMagic.
(Image credit: Rik Henderson / Future)
There are two 50-megapixel cams on the rear – main and ultra-wide – which are decent enough for phone at a mid-range price point, but the front-facing 16-megapixel under-display camera is just as poor as on the last model. Selfies come out soft and lacking detail, thanks to being obscured by screen pixels on top, so if that’s your main concern, look elsewhere.
It’s okay for video calling though, and that’s about all you’d really use it for.
RedMagic 12 Pro: gaming giant?
You get RedMagic OS 12 (Android 17) preinstalled and while there’s some bloatware, mainly when it comes to games utilities, it’s not really that bad. I personally added a fair few additional apps as soon as I booted it up for the first time anyway, including a bunch of retro gaming emulators I use on all Android handhelds.
(Image credit: Rik Henderson / Future)
It’s worth noting though that PC emulation and Steam access is available through RedMagic’s own Game Space. However, I also installed GameHub and DroidDeck myself.
I did encounter some issues with both. Considering the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset is so new (this is one of the first phones to hit market that uses it), compatibility was flakey. You might have to wait a bit for developers to catch up. It’s arguably too powerful and advanced right now.
(Image credit: Rik Henderson / Future)
I also had a few issues with some Android games, such as Red Dead Redemption, which crashed often. But I expect those to be ironed out before the phone is in the hands of consumers.
It’s why I haven’t fully reviewed the RedMagic 12 Pro yet – I want to see what happens over the next couple of weeks in terms of first- and third-party updates.
As it stands though, this is a highly impressive device for gaming and just general Android shenanigans, with potential that far outweighs its price point.
Yes, it’s technically a gaming phone, but it’s also something I’d consider keeping with me at all times. Just not when I want to take a selfie.
