Nubia Red Magic 5G to be capable of true 144Hz gaming: Report

(Image credit: Nubia)

If you ever thought high refresh rate displays were a fad, Nubia is here to make you reconsider that with its next gaming smartphone. The Red Magic 5G is going to sport an insane 144Hz display.

Red Magic is Nubia’s gaming arm which makes flashy phones with specs filled to the brim, high refresh rate displays, and of course, RGB. For its next phone, the Red Magic 5G (skipped 4 as it is considered unlucky in Chinese) will take all of those up by a notch, as the 2020 gaming smartphone race begins.

Nubia Red Magic 5G specifications

(Image credit: Gamebench)

As mentioned, the Red Magic 5G will be the first gaming smartphone with a 144Hz display, which will cross the bar set by the Asus ROG Phone II. It will be an AMOLED panel with a rather big footprint, flanked by dual front-firing stereo speakers. Gamebench has received a pre-production unit, and described its experience as: “We've seen smartphones promising >100fps gaming before, but Nubia's new handset is the first we've benchmarked that actually delivers stable 144fps gameplay in a real-world scenario.”

That has been made possible by the powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset powering the Red Magic 5G along with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Rumours suggest there will be a 16GB RAM variant too. The Snapdragon X55 modem will enable 5G capabilities, giving the device its name. It will have active cooling with an actual fan inside for improved ventilation and thermal performance.

The testing also confirms the existence of a big 5,000mAh battery. We expect the Red Magic 5G to have faster charging than its predecessor’s 18W Quick Charge 4+. The shared live image of the device also suggests that it will sport a triple camera setup on the rear with the 64MP Sony IMX686 taking the lead. The Game Space switch will be on the right side, with the left side presumably housing the two shoulder buttons for gaming. The paint job on the device is also unlike anything we’ve seen on a smartphone before.

The Red Magic 5G by Nubia is expected to be unveiled in China sometime in March.

Aakash Jhaveri

Aakash is the engine that keeps TechRadar India running, using his experience and ideas to help consumers get to the right products via reviews, buying guides and explainers. Apart from phones, computers and cameras, he is obsessed with electric vehicles.