The Red Magic 8 Pro is the latest and greatest gaming smartphone from Nubia, starting at $649 in the US. Although a niche category, gaming phones offer a lot of value for money, especially for those who look for amazing performance and battery life above all else.

Let's take a look at the nine best features of the Red Magic 8 Pro that make it one of the best Android gaming phones of 2023. Even if you're not a gamer, there's a lot that the device offers that makes it a great alternative to regular flagships.

1. A New Boxy Design

Perhaps the most interesting new feature of the Red Magic 8 Pro is its boxy design with flat edges and a more minimal back design. Gaming phones usually have a very showy design which a lot of non-gamers find distasteful; this stops gaming phones from becoming mainstream and gaining popularity among the masses.

Thankfully, the Matte color variant of the Red Magic 8 Pro looks very clean. There are still some decals, but they're not that noticeable, especially from a distance—making the handset more appropriate for non-gamers. If that doesn't sound fun to you, try the Void color variant that shows the built-in RGB turbofan through the back glass and has more vibrant decals.

2. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Chip

It wouldn't be a gaming phone without the latest Snapdragon chip, and that's exactly what you get with the Red Magic 8 Pro. Alongside the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the device also houses a second-generation dedicated gaming chip developed by Red Magic called the Red Core 2 that helps it get a ridiculously good AnTuTu score of 1,288,866.

Pair all this power with the built-in 20,000 RPM turbofan and Red Magic's ICE 11 cooling system, and you've got yourself a recipe for amazing sustained performance. Reviews show that the device doesn't overheat even after long gaming sessions, and can easily handle even the most graphically demanding mobile games.

3. Tons of Gaming Features

On the hardware side, the device features 520Hz shoulder buttons and a dedicated Game Space slider that opens your game lobby where you can browse all your games. It's like the Game Launcher on Samsung phones, but better. The display is improved too and better hides the under-display front camera to maximize immersion.

On the software side, you can still do everything you could previously do on the Red Magic 7. That means controlling the turbofan and refresh rate, blocking calls and notifications, and seeing your CPU performance and device temperature during gameplay.

4. A Beefy 6000mAh Battery

The Red Magic 8 Pro comes with a beefy 6000mAh cell and leaves no room for complaints in terms of battery life. For context, its predecessor Red Magic 7 Pro came with a 5000mAh cell but had worse battery life than the S22 Ultra which comes with the same capacity.

According to reviews, that's no longer a problem on the Red Magic 8 Pro as the phone has been optimized to minimize battery consumption. It also has a bunch of battery features in the software you can use to further extend your battery life and protect battery health.

5. 960Hz Touch Sampling Rate

The Red Magic 8 Pro comes with a 120Hz refresh rate display that helps it consume less battery life than the 165Hz refresh rate display on the Red Magic 7. This is a good move because going beyond 120Hz is unnecessary as the difference is not noticeable.

Refresh rate isn't everything, though. The display should also be able to quickly sense your taps, and that's exactly what the 960Hz touch sampling rate on the handset allows you to do. A high touch sampling rate is important for those who play shooter games, for example.

6. Faster RAM and Storage

As well as the fast chip, you're also getting up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage and up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM; these specs are only available on the Void color variant, though. The Matte variant is limited to 256GB storage and 12GB RAM. You can find out how much storage you need if you're unsure.

7. 16MP Under-Display Front Camera

While under-display cameras are still nowhere near as good as regular ones, they are definitely getting better. Reviews suggest that the 16MP under-display front camera on the Red Magic 8 Pro takes anywhere from passable to decent photos in ideal lighting conditions.

Granted, that doesn't sound too impressive, but it's still miles better than the frankly unusable results we used to get out of this technology a few years ago. The best part about it is that unless you're really looking for it, the under-display camera is impossible to spot when the screen is turned on, meaning the display is fully uninterrupted for maximum immersion.

8. A Headphone Jack

Flagship phones got rid of the headphone jack a while ago, but gaming phones including the Red Magic 8 Pro continue to sport one to address the limitations of wireless headphones.

You might love your earbuds, but when it comes to things like sound quality, latency, connectivity, longevity, and reliability, wired headphones beat wireless headphones.

9. A Charger and Case in the Box

Unboxing a new phone is not as fun an experience today as it used to be a few years ago for obvious reasons. Thankfully, the Red Magic 8 Pro comes with a 65W USB Type-C GaN charger, a red USB-C to USB-C cable, and a transparent hard case in the box, so you don't have to go out of your way to buy those items separately.

Great Power at a Great Price

The Red Magic 8 Pro offers some decent upgrades over its predecessor and is pretty good value for the $649 it costs. Aside from being ridiculously powerful and having great battery life, the device also comes with a fairly lightweight software skin without too much bloatware.

According to reviews, the camera system is also surprisingly competent, considering how gaming phones usually underperform in this area. That said, ultra-wide shots and selfies don't look as good as shots from the main lens. Overall, the Red Magic 8 Pro looks like a solid deal if you're looking to buy a gaming phone in 2023.