Red Magic 6R Review: Worth an Upgrade?

Red Magic 6 series is no doubt one of the best gaming smartphone series. After Red Magic 6 and 6 Pro, the company unveiled Red Magic 6R with some downgrades from the Red Magic 6 to make it a cost-effective gaming phone. But, the good thing is that Red Magic didn’t compromise in terms of performance and that leads the Red Magic 6R to deliver a stellar performance. Red Magic has emerged from nubia and the brand only focuses on manufacturing top-tier gaming smartphones. Check out our review on Red Magic 6R, if you are looking to purchase a true gaming smartphone.

Red Magic 6R Review

Red Magic 6R

Design and Build Quality

The Red Magic 6R is a complete redesign from Red Magic 6 and 6 Pro. Camera sensors are placed at the top-left side, unlike the horizontal stripe on the other two Red Magic 6 series phones. It has a glass back that meets brushed aluminum sides at the curved edges which offer a better grip than Red Magic 6. The rear design does not seem to be inspired by gaming phones, but it looks more than good. It has thin bezels and therefore, we are getting a punch-hole style selfie camera.

Performance

Performance is one the most important thing to look at when purchasing a gaming phone. And, Red Magic does not compromise here as the Red Magic 6R comes with a powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset which also powers Red Magic 6 and 6 Pro. All the graphics related tasks are handled by Adreno 660 GPU. The Red Magic 6R easily handles all the games you will ever play on a smartphone. 

Red Magic 6R performance

The smartphone is offered in 8GB / 12GB LPDDR4X RAM options and 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 fast storage. It does not have a MicroSD card slot, so storage expansion is not possible. When Red Magic 6R benchmarked on Geekbench, it managed to get into the top 10 highest scoring devices on Geekbench v5.1. So, it’s definitely a thumbs up for Red Magic 6R in terms of performance.

Gaming-specific features

A true gaming smartphone does not miss shoulder buttons and we are getting the same in Red Magic 6R. The buttons are fast in response, thumbs up for that. The heat dissipation mechanism of the most important aspect of any gaming phone. In Red Magic 6R, there is no built-in cooling fan, but it is equipped with a good cooling mechanism that consists of graphite, VC liquid cooling, thermal conductive gel, copper foil, and a conductive metal frame in the middle. Having a good thermal system, the Red Magic 6R easily keeps the phone at a balanced temperature even while playing high CPU and GPU intensive games. 

Red Magic 6R shoulder buttons

Red Magic has added a special feature called “Charge Separation” to the device. After plugging in the charger, the charge separation feature allows the device to use power directly from the source, not from the battery. This way, the power does not go into charging the battery which helps in reducing the device from getting overheated. The feature can be enabled through Quick menu. While gaming, the Quick menu can be used to adjust the refresh rate, open apps in pop-up windows, and more. Red Magic has added Game Space 4.0 in the 6R which increases the level of customizations. 

Red Magic 6R cooling system

Display

The Red Magic 6R has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 1080 x 2400 pixels FullHD+ resolution. It supports up to 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, so you can choose from 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz options. The phone has a high touch sampling rate of 360Hz, 10-bit color depth, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, and 770nits of maximum brightness. Red Magic 6R does not harm your eyes as it has been certified by SGS Low Blue Light Eye Care certification and SGS high brush low smear certification. 

Red Magic 6R display

Cameras

The 16-megapixel front-facing camera in Red Magic 6R captures stunning images with high color accuracy. It can capture 1080p videos at 30 frames-per-second (fps). Around the back, the phone is equipped with a quad-camera setup with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX682 primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture. It is further joined with an 8-megapixel f/2.0 ultrawide sensor, a 5-megapixel f/2.4 macro shooter, and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor. The rear camera setup can easily capture detailed videos in up to 8K resolution at 30fps. 

Battery and Connectivity

Red Magic 6R packs a 4,200mAh battery with 30W fast charging support. The smartphone has ‘Charge Separation’ feature which we’ve already discussed above. In terms of connectivity, the Red Magic 6R supports Wi-Fi 6E and Dual-mode 5G (SA+NSA) which can deliver up to 3.0Gbps upload speed and up to 7.5Gbps download speed. All other necessary connectivity features are also there such as Bluetooth v5.2, dual-band A-GPS, and USB Type-C port. 

Red Magic 6 Pricing

The Red Magic 6 is globally available starting at $499 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB variant and the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant costs $599. The smartphone is already up for purchase via the Red Magic official website

Conclusion

With flagship SoC, fast storage, high CPU & GPU performance, multiple-layered cooling system, and gaming features, the Red Magic 6R definitely offers a good value for money. It’s a gaming beast as long as you are okay with the rear design.

Vicky Kumar
Vicky Kumar
Vicky Kumar is a close follower of tech especially when it comes to smartphone. He is passionate to write about the new updates in technology. When he is not working, you'll find him watching cricket highlights or surfing the web.

Leave a Comment