RedMagic just dropped a gaming phone with a literal water cooler inside

What you need to know

• The RedMagic 11 Pro is the first mass-produced phone with a dual liquid-and-air cooling system, using a server-grade liquid and a 24,000rpm fan to tackle heat head-on.
• It's powered by the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, up to 24GB of RAM, and a dedicated RedCore R4 chip for elite-level graphics and touch response.
• The phone packs a massive 8,000mAh battery promises over 13 hours of gaming, but the global model may see a reduction to meet regional regulations.

Nubia has launched its latest gaming flagship in China, the RedMagic 11 Pro series, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most over-the-top mobile gaming phones we’ve seen this year.

Beyond flashy RGB lights and gimmicky specs, the latest RedMagic model pushes phone cooling, performance, and battery life to new extremes, with the main headline being a dual liquid-and-air cooling system — the first of its kind on a mass-produced smartphone.

RedMagic basically took cooling tech usually found in gaming PCs and crammed it into a phone. It’s built around an AI server-grade liquid that stays stable from -60°C to 108°C, paired with a 24,000rpm fan, a ceramic micro-pump, and a four-layer heat dissipation setup. Oh, and the liquid actually moves visibly inside a translucent ring on the back.

Under the hood, the RedMagic 11 Pro packs Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, backed by up to 24GB of LPDDR5T RAM and UFS 4.1 Pro storage. RedMagic also threw in its own RedCore R4 chip to handle touch and graphics optimization, and even a PC emulator in the China version.

The trade-off: A smaller global battery?

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Battery life is another flex point — an 8,000mAh cell that supports 120W wired and 80W wireless charging. RedMagic says it can last over 13 hours in MOBA games. The tradeoff for the upcoming global release, though, is that international models might get a smaller battery to comply with regional safety standards, as reported by Notebookcheck.

Up front, you get a 6.8-inch BOE X10 AMOLED display with 2,688 × 1,216 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and an under-display camera. The display also supports eye protection tech for marathon gaming sessions.

Cameras are surprisingly capable for a gaming phone — dual 50MP shooters and advanced streaming support up to 8K60Hz.

The RedMagic 11 Pro starts at 4,999 RMB (around $680) in China and comes in black, silver, and transparent editions. The global launch is set for November 3, where we’ll see if RedMagic brings all its cooling tricks overseas or keeps some of the magic exclusive to China.