The REDMAGIC 10 Pro outperforms the S25 Ultra for half the price

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra might not be the most exciting release, but it’s undoubtedly the most powerful smartphone Samsung has ever produced. The overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor and enhanced cooling put it ahead of the pack, even if our testing indicates it’s not as big of a difference as you might think.

But what if I told you there’s a handheld that provides even better performance at half the price? It’s not overclocked, and it doesn’t have as many bells and whistles, but if you’re looking for raw performance and value, this phone is full of surprises.

The phone I’m talking about is the Nubia REDMAGIC 10 Pro, the latest in the company’s long line of gaming phones. It comes with built-in triggers, gaming-focused software features, and enhanced cooling. It also sports a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, but I was curious how it stacks up against the overclocked version in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Our early testing of Snapdragon 8 Elite phones showed that the biggest bottleneck is heat. This chipset runs hot at full tilt, so it’s not surprising that phones with enhanced cooling, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, perform better. In fact, several 8 Elite phones without cooling features could not even complete our suite of benchmarks before reaching dangerous temperatures.

So naturally, I put the REDMAGIC 10 Pro through the works, and the results were fairly unexpected.

Starting with CPU-bound benchmarks, the Galaxy S25 Ultra pulls ahead, but not by much.

Geekbench scores were only 2-3% higher on average across three tests. That’s really the only place where the overclocked chip shows dividends. However, both scored noticeably higher than other 8 Elite devices, like the OnePlus 13.

The PCMark’s Work 3.0 test, which is much more reliant on RAM and other optimizations, is where the REDMAGIC 10 Pro starts to show its prowess. Despite having the same 12GB of RAM, it scored nearly 25% higher than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and 60% higher than the Oneplus 13.

This shows that when it comes to everyday tasks like video and image editing, the REDMAGIC 10 Pro blows the competition out of the water. Granted, you probably won’t notice the difference since few smartphone tasks are demanding enough to take full advantage of all that power.

So that brings us to the main show: stress tests. I put each phone through 20 cycles of intense load, recording performance and temperatures. Averaging the scores, we should give a better picture of how a phone handles things like long gaming sessions.

At first glance, the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Nubia REDMAGIC 10 Pro seem neck and neck. But if you take a closer look, the results are mixed. For the first 12 or 13 runs of two of the stress tests, the REDMAGIC 10 Pro performed significantly better at the cost of increasingly high temperatures. Once it hit the tipping point, performance dipped well below that of the S25 Ultra.

The peak temperature I recorded on the REDMAGIC 10 Pro was 57°C (135°F), the highest we’ve ever seen in one of our tests. The phone was far too hot for me to pick up after completing each test, although the built-in fans cooled it down quickly. For comparison, the peak temperature of the Galaxy S25 Ultra was 42.3°C (108°F).

It seems that the REDMAGIC 10 Pro’s software is tuned to allow for higher temperatures to boost performance. It’s worth pointing out that you’ll never hit those temperatures in practical gaming situations, but there are legitimate concerns about what damage it might do to the hardware itself. Samsung’s more aggressive approach to throttling means lower performance but better overall longevity.

While the REDMAGIC 10 Pro may slightly outperform the Galaxy S25 Ultra in benchmarks, that’s obviously not all there is to a smartphone. The S25 Ultra has some of the best phone cameras you can buy, not to mention far better software support. One UI is a much better experience, and with seven years of Android version updates (compared to one on the REDMAGIC 10 Pro), it will last you a lot longer.

The phone itself is also clearly marketed as a gaming phone, which won’t appeal to everyone. Personally, I’m glad Nubia went with a relatively understated design rather than an RGB monstrosity. There are two subtle lights on the back that pulse when the phone is in gaming mode, but otherwise, it’s a matte black affair.

The lack of a camera bump is also something I wish more phones would considder. It’s very comfortable to hold while gaming, which I can’t say about most devices with jutting lenses. That said, the camera setup isn’t anywhere near the same level as the Galaxy.

But ultimately, the Nubia REDMAGIC 10 Pro ($899 at Amazon) makes good on its premise. Starting at $650, its ability to match the $1300 Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1099.99 at Amazon) in performance is impressive. It’s now my go-to device for testing performance in cutting-edge emulation like the recently released PS3 emulator. No other chipset I tested had enough power to boot PS3 games.

I’m not someone who needs that kind of performance on my daily driver, but if you are, the REDMAGIC 10 Pro is worth a look. You certainly won’t find anything like it for the price.