You can now buy an $800 gaming phone in the US with some great specs

Nubia’s Red Magic line of gaming phones have been around for a few years now, offering flagship internals, an internal fan for active cooling, and a few gaming-focused inputs as well. The Red Magic 7 previously saw a global launch back in February, but the Red Magic 7 Pro is now receiving the global and US launch treatment as well.

The Red Magic 7 Pro differs from the standard model in a number of areas, with the most notable difference being the presence of a 16MP under-display selfie camera. This means you’ve got an uninterrupted screen here, lacking a punch-hole, notch, or any other cutout.

Speaking of the screen, you’ve got a 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED panel (20:9) here. This offers an FHD+ resolution and a 960Hz touch sampling rate. You’ll also find an optical under-display fingerprint sensor here, also being able to track your heart rate.

Nubia’s Pro model further differs from the vanilla variant by offering a 5,000mAh battery (versus 4,500mAh on the standard device). The Chinese Red Magic 7 Pro features 120W charging, but this isn’t available for the US, EU, or UK models, settling on still-brisk 65W charging instead.

Red Magic 7 Pro: What else to know?

In terms of horsepower, you can expect a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset with a variety of cooling solutions, including a built-in cooling fan and vapor chamber cooling. We previously tested the Red Magic 7 and found that the addition of active cooling helped the phone pull ahead of Snapdragon and Exynos-powered S22 phones in sustained performance. So it stands to reason that the similarly equipped Pro model will also be able to sustain peak performance for a while.

You’ve also got a massive 16GB of RAM here, which means multitasking shouldn’t be an issue. The phone is also equipped with 256GB of storage for the Obsidian version and 512GB of storage for the Supernova variant.

Of course, the Red Magic 7 Pro is aimed at gamers, so you’ll be glad to know that the device is indeed equipped with a pair of capacitive shoulder triggers. It’s not quite as tactile as physical triggers seen on the likes of the Poco F3 GT, but extra physical inputs are always welcomed.

Interestingly, Nubia says the phone is also equipped with a so-called Red Core 1 chip that handles audio processing, RGB lighting, and haptic feedback.

The Red Magic series isn’t known for camera quality, but you can nevertheless rely on a triple rear camera system for photography here. This is composed of a 64MP main shooter, 8MP ultrawide camera, and 2MP macro lens.

Other notable specs and features include a 3.5mm port, Red Magic OS 5.0 atop Android 12, dual speakers, and three mics.

Pricing and availability

The Red Magic 7 Pro starts at $799 / €799 / £759 for the 256GB Obsidian variant, while the 512GB transparent Supernova model (seen above) will set you back $899 / €899 / £759. Nubia says the phones will be available to order from April 27, adding that there’s also an early bird offer from April 22. It’s unclear if the aforementioned price tags are the early bird prices.

The phone will be available from the Red Magic website in Asia-Pacific countries, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, and the UK.

The price tag means that the Red Magic 7 Pro goes up against the likes of the Galaxy S22. It might lack S22 features like a telephoto camera, IP rating, and wireless charging, but the addition of active cooling, a large battery with ultra-fast charging, and shoulder triggers makes this worth keeping an eye on if you’re a mobile gamer.