Red Magic 10 Air Review: Slimmed Down, Still Hardcore – But at What Cost?

Design and Build Quality:

The Red Magic 10 Air makes a surprisingly subtle first impression for a gaming phone. Compared to its louder, more RGB-covered competitors, this one feels relatively restrained in design. Of course, it’s not entirely shy—there’s still a dedicated Red Magic switch on the side and touch-sensitive shoulder triggers that hint at its gaming DNA. But the chassis, particularly in the Hailstone white model we tested, opts for a clean matte finish that hides smudges well and looks sleek in most environments.

Measuring just under 8mm thick and weighing 205g, the Red Magic 10 Air is slimmer and lighter than many of its rivals, especially when compared to chunkier flagships with similar power. That doesn’t mean it feels cheap, though. The phone has a brushed aluminum alloy frame sandwiched between flat glass on the front and back. The finish feels solid and premium in the hand, and there’s minimal jiggle on flat surfaces due to the small, symmetrical camera bump array.

One major visual highlight is the full-screen design, uninterrupted by any punch-hole cutouts. The selfie camera is cleverly hidden under the display, and unless you’re squinting for it, it’s mostly invisible in daily use. This gives the phone a clean, immersive look for media consumption and gameplay. The subtle branding also deserves credit—just enough to assert identity without screaming “gamer.”

The phone is available in multiple colors, including the striking “Flare” orange (yet to be released globally), “Twilight” black, and the “Hailstone” white model we reviewed. No transparent edition this time around, which might disappoint longtime Red Magic fans who love that industrial aesthetic. Still, the clean finish and minimalistic touches make this a more approachable gaming phone for a wider audience.

Red Magic also deserves points for making the back matte rather than glossy—goodbye fingerprints. Unfortunately, water resistance is limited. The phone is rated IP54, meaning it’s protected from dust and light splashes, but it’s definitely not designed for dunking. That’s acceptable for a gaming phone, though it might be a dealbreaker for those used to more rugged flagship devices.

Even so, the Red Magic 10 Air strikes a solid balance between gaming aesthetics and everyday usability. It’s refined enough for professional settings but retains enough flair to stand out when it counts.

Display Specs and Biometrics:

The Red Magic 10 Air features a striking 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2480 by 1116 pixels, delivering sharp and vibrant visuals. While it doesn’t quite reach QHD+ territory, this Full HD+ panel still offers a highly satisfying pixel density for gaming and media. Colors are punchy, blacks are deep, and contrast is superb, giving games and videos plenty of visual pop. The screen is flat, with no curves or distractions, which suits competitive gaming perfectly.

One of the standout features is the under-display selfie camera, allowing for a true full-view experience. There’s no hole-punch or notch in sight. Unless you’re actively looking for it, the camera area is practically invisible during day-to-day use. This uninterrupted canvas enhances immersion, whether you’re watching content or playing full-screen games.

The display supports a 120Hz refresh rate, which may seem conservative compared to 144Hz or even 165Hz panels on other gaming phones. However, in practice, the difference is negligible for most users. Animations, scrolling, and gaming are all buttery smooth, and unless you’re hyper-focused on frame comparisons, 120Hz is more than enough to keep things fluid.

Brightness is solid but not class-leading. In outdoor use, especially under direct sunlight, you may find yourself cranking it to max to see darker scenes in games or videos. It’s not a huge issue, but one to keep in mind if you’re gaming outdoors frequently. There’s no mention of PWM dimming in the official specs, so users sensitive to OLED flicker might want to test it in person if possible.

 

Touch sampling is responsive, and with the Red Magic-specific Game Space features, you can fine-tune screen sensitivity to your liking. Whether you’re sniping in Call of Duty or navigating dense UI menus, the display reacts quickly to input.

Biometrics are handled by an in-display optical fingerprint sensor. It performs well—quick to respond and accurate in most lighting conditions. There’s no need to press hard or retry often. Unlike some older implementations, this one feels modern and reliable, even when your fingers are slightly damp.

While facial recognition is not prominently featured, the fingerprint sensor alone covers most user needs. It’s also used as a shortcut to activate specific themes or lighting effects, which adds a nice personalized touch.

Overall, the Red Magic 10 Air’s display is an impressive panel for its class. It delivers smooth, vibrant visuals and nails the essentials for competitive gaming and multimedia use alike.

• See also:
• ROG Phone 9 AeroActive Cooler X Pro Review: Is It Worth the Upgrade?
• ROG Phone 9 Chill Case Review: Does It Really Keep Your Phone Cool?

Software Updates and Apps:

The Red Magic 10 Air runs on RedMagic OS 10, layered on top of Android 15. If you’ve used a Red Magic phone before, the overall UI experience will feel familiar—futuristic, bold, and gamer-centric, but also clean enough for non-gamers to enjoy. It includes loads of customization options like animated wallpapers, RGB lighting controls, and fingerprint unlock effects.

While the core UI remains mostly stock Android, Red Magic’s added features make the experience feel premium. However, one caveat to note is software longevity. Red Magic isn’t known for long-term update support. Expect two to three years of updates at most, which is decent but falls short compared to Samsung or Google.

Still, the phone ships with relatively current software and security patches out of the box, so it’s not outdated at launch. Multitasking is snappy, and app launching is quick, thanks to the speedy UFS storage and generous RAM.

Pre-installed apps are kept to a minimum, which is refreshing. Most of them are gaming-related or Red Magic’s own tools like Game Space and Mora. If you prefer a minimalist Android experience, you can easily disable or remove anything unnecessary.

The Game Space hub is a standout software feature. It consolidates all your games into one slick interface and lets you manage performance modes, RGB effects, trigger mapping, and network priorities for each title. Mora, your AI gaming assistant, adds some quirky fun and interactive animations that react to your voice or gaming progress.

Red Magic also includes a few visual tools for live streamers like floating avatars, customizable overlays, and recording options directly from the OS—features most competitors overlook.

Despite the gaming-focused layer, the OS is smooth and reliable. While not as refined as One UI or OxygenOS, RedMagic OS is better than it used to be and no longer feels clunky or half-baked.

Performance and Chipsets:

Powering the Red Magic 10 Air is the tried-and-tested Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, backed by 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. While it’s not the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite found in the Red Magic 10 Pro, this chipset still delivers fantastic flagship-level performance for gaming and multitasking.

Everyday use is a breeze. Navigating the UI, switching apps, and multitasking are all fluid and stutter-free. The chipset handles background processes smoothly, and the memory management is excellent, keeping even multiple games and apps in RAM without closing them unexpectedly.

Benchmark results back this up, with Geekbench and AnTuTu scores placing it among the top-tier Android devices. Real-world performance reflects those numbers too—it feels effortlessly fast, whether you’re editing video clips, jumping between Discord and Spotify, or syncing large game updates in the background.

The Red Magic 10 Air also includes Red Core 3, a co-processor dedicated to handling gaming features and haptic feedback. This offloads work from the main CPU, keeping your performance focused where it matters most—on the game.

Thermal throttling is minimal in casual use, thanks to a vapor chamber cooling system that keeps the internals relatively cool during standard workloads. It’s only under extended gaming stress that you’ll start to notice some heat, which we’ll touch on in the next section.

Gaming Performance and Tests:

The Red Magic 10 Air proves it’s still a serious gaming phone, even without the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite. With Game Space and the Red Core 3 chip, performance remains strong across demanding titles like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty Mobile, and PUBG New State.

In testing, Genshin Impact on max settings stayed locked at 59–60fps during most sessions. The Rise mode in Game Space helped push performance further, with fluid animation, minimal stuttering, and consistently smooth gameplay.

Call of Duty Mobile ran flawlessly at 120fps, thanks to the high-refresh display and game optimization. The 520Hz shoulder triggers proved useful during shooters, allowing fast and accurate input without screen taps.

Even graphically intensive titles like Weathering Waves maintained impressive frame rates for nearly two hours before noticeable warmth set in. The lack of a physical fan means the phone warms up more than the Red Magic 10 Pro, but thermal management was still surprisingly effective.

The frame boost feature, while only available on a few select titles, helped keep gameplay consistent. And if you use charge bypass, you can play plugged in without overheating the battery.

If you’re a competitive mobile gamer, this phone absolutely delivers—lightweight yet powerful, with refined tools and consistent frame pacing.

Battery Life and Charging Speed:

The Red Magic 10 Air packs a 6,000mAh battery, which is slightly smaller than its Pro sibling but still a solid capacity for a gaming phone. In light-to-moderate use—social media, streaming, and browsing—it easily lasts over a full day.

However, during extended gaming sessions, particularly on max settings with high brightness and 120Hz refresh enabled, the battery drains faster. Titles like Weathering Waves can chew through the charge in just over 3.5 hours.

Fortunately, 80W fast charging helps minimize downtime. A full recharge takes about 40 minutes, which is excellent for a battery this size. Sadly, there’s no wireless charging, which some premium phones offer, but the wired speed makes up for it.

If you’re gaming heavily, enable charge bypass mode to protect battery health during plugged-in play.

• Read more comparisons:
• Galaxy A56 vs. Galaxy S24 FE: Which Samsung Phone Offers Better Value for the Price?
• Realme 14 Pro+ 5G vs Vivo V50 5G – Full Comparison Review with Pros, Cons
• Galaxy A56 vs. Nothing Phone (3a)

Connectivity:

The Red Magic 10 Air covers all the essentials when it comes to wireless connectivity. You get full 5G support, along with 4G LTE compatibility across a wide range of global bands. Signal reception was solid during testing, even in fringe areas.

It also includes Wi-Fi 6E, ensuring fast, stable connections for multiplayer gaming or high-speed downloads. Bluetooth 5.3 is onboard as well, offering low-latency pairing with wireless earbuds or controllers.

Sadly, there’s no headphone jack, which is a letdown for wired audio purists. You’ll have to rely on a USB-C DAC dongle or wireless headphones.

NFC is supported, so you can use tap-to-pay services like Google Pay with ease. GPS and other satellite systems (GLONASS, BeiDou) lock on quickly, making it reliable for navigation.

In terms of ports, you get a single USB-C 3.2 port at the bottom—capable of fast charging and data transfer, but there’s no support for video out. Dual nano SIM slots are included, though there’s no microSD card slot, so you’re stuck with internal storage.

Camera Specs and Performance:

While the Red Magic 10 Air excels as a gaming smartphone, camera performance isn’t where it tries to stand out. Much like other gaming-focused handsets, the camera hardware seems like an afterthought rather than a key selling point. Still, it borrows the exact same setup from its sibling, the Red Magic 10 Pro, which gives it at least a baseline of respectable imaging capabilities.

On the back, you’ll find a 50-megapixel OmniVision OV50E primary sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), paired with a secondary 50-megapixel OmniVision OV50D ultrawide shooter. These sensors may not top the photography charts, but they’re decent enough for casual users who just want to snap a few quick shots. The main shooter captures decent detail in well-lit conditions, though dynamic range and color balance aren’t always the most consistent.

If you like manual control, the Red Magic 10 Air comes with a surprisingly full-featured pro mode. You can tweak everything from ISO and white balance to shutter speed and focus manually. There’s also support for RAW image capture, which is a plus for those who like to edit their photos after the fact. You’ll find all the standard modes here too — portrait, panorama, and even a Milky Way night mode for capturing starry skies, though results can be hit or miss.

Video recording is more ambitious, with support for up to 8K at 30 frames per second, or 4K at 30 and 60 fps. Stabilization with the OIS helps, but don’t expect flagship-level cinematic results. It’s more of a “nice to have” feature rather than something you’d buy this phone for.

Now, let’s talk about that under-display selfie camera. To be blunt, it’s not great. You can shoot 1080p video and take pictures, but the quality is soft, a bit murky, and not ideal for anything beyond casual selfies or video calls. Visibility is already a challenge due to its placement under the display, and the image quality isn’t helped by the lack of advanced processing. It works, but that’s about it.

In short, the Red Magic 10 Air’s camera setup does the job, but that’s not where the excitement lies. It’s clear that the focus here is all about performance and gaming, and the cameras are just serviceable enough to fill the spec sheet. If mobile photography is a priority, you’ll want to look elsewhere — but for casual use, it’s more than fine.

Price and Availability:

The Red Magic 10 Air is priced aggressively for a gaming-focused smartphone, starting at $649 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. A higher-tier version with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage is also available, though it bumps the price closer to the $749 mark. Despite its feature-rich build, including touch-sensitive triggers and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, the price remains competitive in comparison to other flagship-level gaming phones.

The phone launched globally in early Q2 2025, with availability in North America, Europe, and select Asian markets via Red Magic’s official website and Amazon. The “Hailstone” white model is shipping now, while the “Flare” orange variant will roll out in other regions in the coming months.

No carrier partnerships are in place for locked versions, meaning all models are sold unlocked for GSM networks. Unfortunately, there’s no waterproofing beyond an IP54 rating, so while the hardware offers solid bang for your buck, the durability may not be ideal for every user.

Pros

• Slimmer and lighter design than most gaming phones
• 6.8” AMOLED full-view display with under-display selfie camera
• Powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with Red Core 3
• Built-in 520Hz shoulder triggers and extensive game toolbar
• 80W fast charging with battery bypass support
• Extensive game-space customizations and RGB lighting options

Cons

• No wireless charging or headphone jack
• Under-display selfie camera is subpar
• Gets hot during extended gaming sessions without a built-in fan
• Buy Red Magic 10 Air at Giztop Now!

Conclusion:

The Red Magic 10 Air is a smart evolution of Nubia’s gaming phone strategy — still packed with raw power and gamer-centric tools, but slimmer, lighter, and just a bit more mainstream-friendly. It manages to deliver near-flagship performance thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, all while trimming some of the excess that made previous gaming phones feel too bulky. The display is immersive, the shoulder triggers responsive, and the Red Magic software continues to be one of the most feature-rich ecosystems for mobile gaming.

That said, it’s not without compromises. The absence of a built-in fan means it runs hot during longer sessions, and the camera performance — especially the under-display selfie cam — remains lackluster. Software support also isn’t as long-term as some might hope, with updates typically limited to a few years.

Still, for gamers who want a high-performance, visually striking phone without the chunkiness, the Red Magic 10 Air offers great value. Just don’t buy it expecting flagship-level photography or deep software longevity. For those focused on gaming, speed, and immersion, this is a worthy contender. Buy Red Magic 10 Air at Giztop Now!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is the Red Magic 10 Air good for gaming?

• Yes, it features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, shoulder triggers, and Red Magic’s game space optimizations for high-performance gaming.

Does the Red Magic 10 Air have a fan?

• No, unlike the Red Magic 10 Pro, the Air version removes the internal cooling fan to make the design slimmer.

What display does the Red Magic 10 Air use?

• It has a 6.8-inch AMOLED full-view display with a 120Hz refresh rate and an under-display front camera.

How good is the camera on the Red Magic 10 Air?

• A: It’s serviceable for casual use, but not ideal for photography enthusiasts. The under-display selfie cam is particularly weak.

How long does the battery last on the Red Magic 10 Air?

• Moderate gaming use can drain the battery in about 3.5–4 hours. Lighter usage offers 10–11 hours of screen time on average.

Is the Red Magic 10 Air waterproof?

• It has an IP54 rating, making it resistant to splashes and dust, but not fully waterproof. Avoid submerging it in water.
• Buy Red Magic 10 Air at Giztop Now!