Besides its close relationship with ZTE, Nubia is known for its RedMagic series of gaming phones, packing massive batteries, high refresh rate display, and other gaming-oriented features. With Qualcomm's next-gen chip announced, Nubia has now become the world's first Android manufacturer to announce a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-based gaming phone: the RedMagic 8 Pro. The lineup consists of two phones, the RedMagic 8 Pro and the 8 Pro+ featuring a dedicated Red Core 2 gaming chip to handle gaming effects like sound details, colors, and haptic vibration feedback.

Both phones house a 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED panel with a rated peak brightness of 1300 nits and ultra-thin 1.48mm size bezels (via Weibo). The panel also houses a second-generation 16MP under-display camera that provides improved clarity and a resolution of 400 PPI.

Ticking inside the gaming phones is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that is cooled using RedMagic's ICE 11.0 cooling system. This consists of a 3D Icing VC liquid cooling plate, several layers of graphene sheets, a dedicated air inlet, and a built-in fan with 20,000 rpm. Nubia claims the upgraded cooling system improves heat conduction efficiency by 600% compared to previous models.

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The phone's rear houses a 50MP Samsung GN5 primary camera, an 8MP 120-degree ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro shooter. Other specs include stereo speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack, dual-SIM 5G, and a USB-C port at the bottom. There are two shoulder keys on the phone's right side with 520Hz touch sampling support.

While the RedMagic 8 Pro is powered by a 6000mAh battery with 80W fast charging, the Pro+ model houses a 5,000mAh battery with 165W charging support. The latter can be topped from 0-100% in 14 minutes. Out of the box, the phones run on Android 13-based RedMagic OS 6.0.

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As for the difference between the Pro and the Pro+ variants, it boils down to their RAM and storage configurations. The Pro model is available with 8GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, while the Pro+ starts with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and goes up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. Nubia will also begin selling a version of the RedMagic 8 Pro+ with a transparent back down the line.

The RedMagic 8 Pro and Pro+ will go on open sale in China starting December 28, 2022. The phones will make their international debut on January 16, 2023, and go on open sale in the following month. Pricing starts from 3999 yuan for the RedMagic 8 Pro, while the 8 Pro+ is priced at 5199 yuan.