OnePlus 15 vs. RedMagic 11 Professional: How These Gaming-Optimized Telephones Stack Up

From a design standpoint, the OnePlus 15 and RedMagic 11 Pro are nearly full opposites. OnePlus goals to evoke a premium design and modern aesthetics, whereas the angular, futuristic-looking RedMagic 11 Professional appears like one thing out of a sci-fi film. 

Nonetheless, they share almost equivalent inside specs and are each closely centered on gaming. The OnePlus 15 goals to be a flagship cellphone that additionally delivers a robust gaming expertise, whereas the RedMagic 11 Professional is, at first, a gaming cellphone that additionally handles on a regular basis smartphone duties.

They’re each extremely highly effective, and every one makes completely different trade-offs to ship a uniquely distinct expertise.

Show

Large, lovely, quick shows are entrance and heart right here and are spectacular each technically and visually. The RedMagic 11 Professional homes an nearly completely rectangular 6.85-inch AMOLED show with a 144Hz refresh fee. OnePlus went with a 6.78-inch in. OLED panel with a 120 Hertz refresh fee that may ramp as much as 165 Hz throughout supported video games. 

The AMOLED panel on the RedMagic 11 Professional reveals higher colours, and the upper refresh fee offers it the sting right here. Plus, RedMagic has been hiding its selfie cameras underneath the show for a couple of years now, so the display screen is actually edge-to-edge, with no digicam cutout. It is a bit extra angled than most different telephones, however not uncomfortable, and the large, attractive show is great to take a look at. 

Efficiency

The RedMagic 11 Professional and the OnePlus 15 have almost equivalent spec sheets. Each home the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with related storage configurations of 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. RedMagic does have a bonus right here, providing a maxed-out model with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, however most individuals will not want that a lot energy. Nonetheless, contemplating that model is identical worth because the 16GB and/ 512GB version OnePlus 15, that is a value-oriented level for RedMagic.

RedMagic and OnePlus have each designed proprietary processors to accompany Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to assist increase gaming efficiency, and the result’s two telephones that merely fly. I by no means as soon as skilled any slowdowns or stutters wherever throughout the software program. It doesn’t matter what I did, neither cellphone ever appeared to decelerate. 

Battery and charging

Each telephones have large batteries, with the OnePlus 15 coming in at 7,300-mAh and the RedMagic 11 Professional squeezing out a bit extra juice at 7,500-mAh. Each will simply get you thru two days — so long as you retain gaming to a minimal. 

Each units fortunately assist quick charging, and it is among the quickest within the trade, particularly within the US. Every can cost at as much as 80-watt speeds over wired charging, and each include an 80W charger within the field, which is frustratingly uncommon today. OnePlus costs over the proprietary SuperVooc normal, which suggests you may want to make use of that included energy adapter so as to obtain the cellphone’s quickest pace. In the meantime, RedMagic makes use of the extra common USB-PD normal, so its charging brick may also quick cost different units.

Wi-fi charging is offered on each units — a primary for RedMagic. Much more spectacular is how briskly they’ll cost wirelessly. OnePlus was the primary (and continues to be the one) firm to carry 50W wi-fi charging to the US a couple of years in the past. RedMagic claims that the 11 Professional can cost at as much as 80W wirelessly. That is a completely absurd declare and one I sadly can not check, as the one 80W wi-fi charger I may discover is made by Xiaomi and thus not obtainable right here within the States. OnePlus achieves that sooner pace utilizing the AirVooc normal — so once more, you may want the wi-fi charger that OnePlus makes so as to get the sooner 50W pace. Whereas we won’t check the 80W wi-fi charging declare, we do know that the cellphone works with the extra common Qi wi-fi charging normal.

Gaming

RedMagic has constructed its whole ethos round cellular gaming, and the 11 Professional is the epitome of that. The shortage of digicam bump means it is completely flat, so it feels higher in your hand and suits into cellular controllers higher. There are touch-sensitive shoulder triggers on the best aspect that may act as a contact level on the display screen. For instance, setting the left one to aiming and the best to fireplace in Name of Responsibility: Cellular simply makes the cellphone really feel extra like a gaming controller. There’s even a devoted cooling fan constructed into the aspect to maintain the cellphone cool throughout longer gaming classes. 

The top of all of it is a characteristic that is nonetheless a rarity on all however the highest-end gaming PCs: a self-contained liquid cooling system. On the Nightfreeze and Subzero fashions, you may really see the electric-blue cooling liquid contained in the cellphone. Flip it on, and the liquid will actually movement throughout the internals to assist preserve peak gaming efficiency for longer than ever. 

This will all appear a bit overkill (and it completely is for nearly everybody), nevertheless it actually units RedMagic aside.

OnePlus takes a unique method, aiming to be a extra conventional smartphone that also excels at gaming. On the OnePlus 15, the devoted contact sampling and Wi-Fi processors, together with a proprietary inside cooling system, are particularly designed to squeeze out as a lot efficiency as potential whereas gaming. 

And it really works. Extremely demanding video games similar to Name of Responsibility: Cellular, Genshin Impression, PUBG and Wuthering Heights — amongst others — all ran flawlessly on the OnePlus 15. In Name of Responsibility, I very not often dropped under 165 frames per second, which is considerably larger than the common gaming PC can maintain. 

Each corporations additionally add software program options to enhance the gaming expertise. OnePlus presents a preinstalled app known as Recreation Assistant that allows you to tweak settings for every recreation. RedMagic goes a step additional to provide you a {hardware} button that launches Recreation Area. That is basically a separate launcher that nearly turns your cellphone right into a mini console. It additionally helps you to modify settings, nevertheless it presents way more choices to tweak, together with an in-game overlay the place you may set up plugins and macros for terribly granular customization.

Software program

Other than the wildly completely different aesthetics, the software program experiences are additionally worlds aside. OnePlus has taken various cues from Apple’s Liquid Glass design language for OxygenOS 16, however the total expertise stays very quick, very clean and pretty near Google’s supposed model of Android. It is nonetheless one among my favourite takes on the working system.

The RedMagic 11 Professional is aware of it is a gaming cellphone by means of and thru. Fortunately, RedMagic has closely toned down the wildly over-the-top gaming-focused design components over time, however they’re nonetheless readily obvious all through the software program. The corporate additionally preloads the cellphone with an unacceptable quantity of bloatware and ineffective apps, a few of which can’t be uninstalled. 

CNET senior editor Mike Sorrentino came away feeling rather disappointed within the software program expertise on the RedMagic 11 Professional throughout his testing, however I personally did not discover it too insufferable. Almost the entire points he and I’ve with the software program are the identical ones I’ve had with Samsung’s software program for years — and, in the end, most of them are straightforward sufficient to keep away from.

However with out query, this one goes to OnePlus. 

Value and availability

Costs for each RedMagic and OnePlus telephones have steadily elevated over time to the purpose the place each sit squarely in flagship territory. The OnePlus 15 begins at $899 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and jumps as much as $999 for the 16GB and 512GB model. The bottom mannequin solely is available in black, however OnePlus usually presents the top-tier fashions on the cheaper price throughout launch. 

The RedMagic 11 Professional begins at $749 for the 12GB of RAM and 256GB mannequin and likewise goes up $100 to $849 for the 16GB and 512GB mannequin. The highest-end configuration of 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage prices $999 — the identical worth because the lower-specced OnePlus 15. 

Each units will probably be obtainable in most areas. The OnePlus 15 will probably be on sale at Greatest Purchase, Amazon and the OnePlus website, though the extremely violet shade choice will solely be obtainable in restricted portions at Amazon and OnePlus. The RedMagic 11 Pro will probably be obtainable on RedMagic’s web site and Amazon.