Chinese brand Nubia on Wednesday announced the launch of its latest gaming smartphone called Red Magic 3S. The Red Magic 3S is an incremental upgrade over the Red Magic 3, which is one of the popular gaming smartphones in India. Powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, the Red Magic 3S boasts of a 90Hz display, which is one of the mainstays for a gaming smartphone today. The smartphone rivals the recently launched Asus ROG Phone II, and even the OnePlus 7T Pro that houses similar specifications.
The Nubia Red Magic 3S comes in two variants – both featuring different storage and colour configurations. The Mecha Silver version packing 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage costs Rs 35,999 while the Cyber colour version packing 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage is priced at Rs 47,999. The pricing is on par with that of ROG Phone II, which brings some top-level specifications to the table at this price bracket in India. The Red Magic 3S will be available starting October 21under Diwali Sale on Flipkart. The sale has not been announced by Flipkart yet but is likely imminent. There is a no-cost EMI payment facility and a complete mobile protection plan, worth Rs 499, available to be opted on the purchase of the smartphone.
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Nubia is one of the well-known names in the smartphone gaming industry. However, the brand has seen stiff competition from Asus and other brands in India. ZTE, the company that owns the brand, has not divulged any tangible information on the sales numbers of its devices in India so far. Meanwhile, Asus has claimed it is on top of India’s smartphone gaming industry, thanks to its ROG line.
For specifications, the Nubia Red Magic 3S comes with a 6.65-inch FHD+ AMOLED HDR display with a refresh rate of 90Hz. Featuring an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, the display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass on top. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor clocked at up to 2.8GHz and paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.0 internal storage. For graphics, the smartphone rocks an Adreno 540 GPU. There is a physical fingerprint sensor at the back of the smartphone, along with other standard sensors such as a gyroscope and a proximity sensor. The Nubia Red Magic 3S runs Android 9.0 Pie-powered OS, which resembles the stock version or Android One version.
Talking about the gaming-specific features, the Nubia Red Magic 3S has what looks like a nerdy pattern at the back, much like what its prequel has. There are air vents on the side of the smartphone that facilitate the flow of air generated from an in-built cooling fan. There is also a liquid cooling tube inside the smartphone to help the fan control the device temperature while the phone handles graphics-heavy games or applications. There are two ‘trigger buttons’ on the right side of the Red Magic 3S that be programmed to control certain functions within a game that supports external buttons on mobile. There is a Game Space 2.1 on the Red Magic 3S that boosts the performance on the smartphone, suitable for games, by a toggle of the button.
Red Magic 3S has a single camera at the back, unlike the most devices available today in this price range. It is a 48-megapixel f/1.79±5 per cent sensor that supports EIS. The camera is touted to be capable of recording 8K videos. The front camera is a 16-megapixel Sony sensor that can record up to 1080p videos at 30fps. There are dual speakers on the smartphone that are tuned by DTS:X, claimed to offer 3D sound experience. The smartphone is backed by a 5000mAh battery that charges at up to 27W.