We Pit These Two Weird-Looking Android Gaming Phones Head to Head

From a design standpoint, the OnePlus 15 and RedMagic 11 Pro are virtually full opposites. OnePlus goals to evoke a premium design and modern aesthetics, whereas the angular, futuristic-looking RedMagic 11 Professional seems like one thing out of a sci-fi film. 

Nonetheless, these mighty Android phones share practically equivalent inside specs and are each closely centered on gaming. The OnePlus 15 goals to be a flagship telephone that additionally delivers a robust gaming expertise, whereas the RedMagic 11 Professional is, firstly, a gaming telephone that additionally handles on a regular basis smartphone duties.

They’re each extremely highly effective, and every one makes totally different trade-offs to ship a uniquely distinct expertise.

Show

Huge, lovely, quick shows are entrance and middle right here and are spectacular each technically and visually. The RedMagic 11 Professional homes an virtually completely rectangular 6.85-inch AMOLED show with a 144Hz refresh charge. OnePlus went with a 6.78-inch in. OLED panel with a 120 Hertz refresh charge that may ramp as much as 165 Hz throughout supported video games. 

The AMOLED panel on the RedMagic 11 Professional exhibits higher colours, and the upper refresh charge provides it the sting right here. Plus, RedMagic has been hiding its selfie cameras below the show for just a few years now, so the display is actually edge-to-edge, with no digicam cutout. It’s kind of extra angled than most different telephones, however not uncomfortable, and the large, beautiful show is great to take a look at. 

Efficiency

The RedMagic 11 Professional and the OnePlus 15 have practically equivalent spec sheets. Each home the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with comparable storage configurations of 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. RedMagic does have a bonus right here, providing a maxed-out model with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, however most individuals will not want that a lot energy. Nonetheless, contemplating that model is identical value because the 16GB and/ 512GB version OnePlus 15, that is a value-oriented level for RedMagic.

RedMagic and OnePlus have each designed proprietary processors to accompany Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to assist enhance gaming efficiency, and the result’s two telephones that merely fly. I by no means as soon as skilled any slowdowns or stutters wherever throughout the software program. It doesn’t matter what I did, neither telephone ever appeared to decelerate. 

Battery and charging

Each telephones have large batteries, with the OnePlus 15 coming in at 7,300-mAh and the RedMagic 11 Professional squeezing out a bit extra juice at 7,500-mAh. Each will simply get you thru two days — so long as you retain gaming to a minimal. 

Each units fortunately assist quick charging, and it is among the quickest within the trade, particularly within the US. Every can cost at as much as 80-watt speeds over wired charging, and each include an 80W charger within the field, which is frustratingly uncommon lately. OnePlus expenses over the proprietary SuperVooc normal, which implies you may want to make use of that included energy adapter in an effort to obtain the telephone’s quickest pace. In the meantime, RedMagic makes use of the extra common USB-PD normal, so its charging brick may quick cost different units.

Wi-fi charging is accessible on each units — a primary for RedMagic. Much more spectacular is how briskly they will cost wirelessly. OnePlus was the primary (and continues to be the one) firm to deliver 50W wi-fi charging to the US just a few years in the past. RedMagic claims that the 11 Professional can cost at as much as 80W wirelessly. That is a completely absurd declare and one I sadly can’t check, as the one 80W wi-fi charger I may discover is made by Xiaomi and thus not accessible right here within the States. OnePlus achieves that sooner pace utilizing the AirVooc normal — so once more, you may want the wi-fi charger that OnePlus makes in an effort to get the sooner 50W pace. Whereas we won’t check the 80W wi-fi charging declare, we do know that the telephone works with the extra common Qi wi-fi charging normal.

Gaming

RedMagic has constructed its total ethos round cell gaming, and the 11 Professional is the epitome of that. The dearth of digicam bump means it is completely flat, so it feels higher in your hand and matches into cell controllers higher. There are touch-sensitive shoulder triggers on the suitable facet that may act as a contact level on the display. For instance, setting the left one to aiming and the suitable to fireside in Name of Responsibility: Cellular simply makes the telephone really feel extra like a gaming controller. There’s even a devoted cooling fan constructed into the facet to maintain the telephone cool throughout longer gaming periods. 

The top of all of it is a characteristic that is nonetheless a rarity on all however the highest-end gaming PCs: a self-contained liquid cooling system. On the Nightfreeze and Subzero fashions, you may really see the electric-blue cooling liquid contained in the telephone. Flip it on, and the liquid will actually stream throughout the internals to assist preserve peak gaming efficiency for longer than ever. 

This may occasionally all appear a bit overkill (and it completely is for nearly everybody), however it actually units RedMagic aside.

OnePlus takes a special strategy, aiming to be a extra conventional smartphone that also excels at gaming. On the OnePlus 15, the devoted contact sampling and Wi-Fi processors, together with a proprietary inside cooling system, are particularly designed to squeeze out as a lot efficiency as doable whereas gaming. 

And it really works. Extremely demanding video games similar to Name of Responsibility: Cellular, Genshin Impression, PUBG and Wuthering Heights — amongst others — all ran flawlessly on the OnePlus 15. In Name of Responsibility, I very hardly ever dropped under 165 frames per second, which is considerably larger than the typical gaming PC can maintain. 

Each corporations additionally add software program options to enhance the gaming expertise. OnePlus affords a preinstalled app referred to as Sport Assistant that permits you to tweak settings for every sport. RedMagic goes a step additional to provide you a {hardware} button that launches Sport Area. That is basically a separate launcher that nearly turns your telephone right into a mini console. It additionally helps you to modify settings, however it affords way more choices to tweak, together with an in-game overlay the place you may set up plugins and macros for terribly granular customization.

Software program

Other than the wildly totally different aesthetics, the software program experiences are additionally worlds aside. OnePlus has taken quite a lot of cues from Apple’s Liquid Glass design language for OxygenOS 16, however the general expertise stays very quick, very easy and pretty near Google’s supposed model of Android. It is nonetheless one in every of my favourite takes on the working system.

The RedMagic 11 Professional is aware of it is a gaming telephone by way of and thru. Fortunately, RedMagic has closely toned down the wildly over-the-top gaming-focused design parts over time, however they’re nonetheless readily obvious all through the software program. The corporate additionally preloads the telephone with an unacceptable quantity of bloatware and ineffective apps, a few of which can’t be uninstalled. 

CNET senior editor Mike Sorrentino came away feeling rather disappointed within the software program expertise on the RedMagic 11 Professional throughout his testing, however I personally did not discover it too insufferable. Almost all the points he and I’ve with the software program are the identical ones I’ve had with Samsung’s software program for years — and, finally, most of them are straightforward sufficient to keep away from.

However with out query, this one goes to OnePlus. 

Worth and availability

Costs for each RedMagic and OnePlus telephones have steadily elevated over time to the purpose the place each sit squarely in flagship territory. The OnePlus 15 begins at $899 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and jumps as much as $999 for the 16GB and 512GB model. The bottom mannequin solely is available in black, however OnePlus usually affords the top-tier fashions on the lower cost throughout launch. 

The RedMagic 11 Professional begins at $749 for the 12GB of RAM and 256GB mannequin and in addition goes up $100 to $849 for the 16GB and 512GB mannequin. The highest-end configuration of 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage prices $999 — the identical value because the lower-specced OnePlus 15. 

Each units will likely be accessible in most areas. The OnePlus 15 will likely be on sale at Greatest Purchase, Amazon and the OnePlus website, though the extremely violet shade possibility will solely be accessible in restricted portions at Amazon and OnePlus. The RedMagic 11 Pro will likely be accessible on RedMagic’s web site and Amazon.