RedMagic 12 Pro review

6.85-inch 185Hz display

The device features a somewhat familiar 6.85-inch OLED display like the last few generations of RedMagic phones, but this one takes things up a notch by introducing a 185Hz refresh rate, up from 144Hz. Resolution hasn't changed, though, as it's still 1,216 x 2,688px.

The HDR capabilities are rather limited, meaning there's no HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, just standard HDR that works in the YouTube app.

The iconic under-display camera feature is here to stay, and as before, it's impossible to spot when the selfie camera isn't active. This way you get a proper full-screen experience.

RedMagic 12 Pro

When it comes to brightness, the display's performance is far from impressive, but it's also good enough for comfortable use outdoors even on a bright sunny day. Interestingly, we got higher readings on a 75% white patch (1,688 nits) than on a 10% one (1,523nits). This is definitely unexpected behavior for an OLED screen, as it should be the reverse - lighting up fewer pixels means the panel should be able to reach higher brightness.

The minimum brightness is 1.5 nits, which is perfectly fine even for pitch-black environments.

Refresh rate

The refresh rate options are as follows: Auto, Standard, Medium and High. The Auto setting is the default one, switching between 60Hz and 144Hz, depending on the scenario. For instance, on YouTube and Netflix, it will dial down to 60Hz or when the screen is not in use.

The 144Hz and 185Hz options act as the auto mode but boost the refresh rate up to 144Hz or 185Hz, respectively. In reality, though, the device's refresh rate is mostly capped at 144Hz, while 185Hz seems to be available only in a select few games - and most of them only with frame interpolation.

Here's the list of game titles that would run above the basic 60Hz:

• Real Racing 3
• PUBG Mobile
• Brawl Stars
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• Vainglory
• Bulletforge

The RedMagic 12 Pro also supports the following titles at 185Hz in 2K resolution using forced upscaling and frame interpolation.

• Genshin Impact
• PUBG Mobile
• Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
• Fortnite
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Wuthering Waves
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• Nikki

Battery life

One of the most notable upgrades to this year's RedMagic 12 Pro is the battery capacity. The device now relies on a huge 8,400 mAh battery, up from 7,500 mAh on the previous generation.

The new chipset and display, however, seem to draw a bit more power than before, given that we see no improvement in the web browsing runtime and only a small jump in the gaming test. We expected more substantial improvements in both scenarios given the battery capacity bump.

On the other hand, the phone had a particularly strong showing in the video streaming and 4G call tests.

Having said all that, the RedMagic 12 Pro earned a respectable 22:34h Active Use Score.

Charging speed

The handset supports the same 80W fast charging over Power Delivery, but this time around, the European package omits the charger itself. You get only the USB-C to USB-C cable.

The new battery, however, charges considerably slower than before. The increase in battery capacity shouldn't have affected charging speed that much, but we have no way of telling what else might have changed under the hood.

Still, the RedMagic 12 Pro is no slouch, replenishing 58% of its capacity in just 30 minutes - that equals . A complete charging cycle from 1 to 100% takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Compared to the RedMagic 11S Pro, the 12 Pro's result is not only slower overall but even if you equate for battery capacity and calculcate the charging speed in mAh/min, the 12 Pro is slower at every checkmark.

The handset also supports 80W wireless charging when paired with a compatible wireless charging stand.

The OS provides a couple of charging settings that would potentially extend the battery's life cycle. For instance, you can set a charging limit or disable fast charging altogether. More importantly, the phone supports bypass charging, meaning you can use your phone and it will just take enough to keep going without charging the battery, which lowers the heat buildup from the charging process (a potential dealbreaker for gaming performance).

Speakers

The RedMagic 11 Pro features a hybrid stereo speaker setup with a full-fledged speaker at the bottom paired with a smaller speaker that acts as an earpiece at the top. Naturally, the bottom one is louder than the hybrid speaker at the top.

Loudness-wise, things haven't changed much as the phone earned a "Good" overall score of -26.4 LUFS, very close to last year's result.

The tuning also sounds the same, which is slightly better than older generations dating back before the RedMagic 11 Pro. Still, we have some criticism regarding the vocals and the highs, which can often be overpowered by the bass. Not that the bass itself is all that prominent - it's just that the balance seems to be off at max volume.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable to our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.