ZTE Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch ZTE Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on December 26, 2022, against the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 990 and came out 35 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
- 2.2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1530K versus 707K)
- Shows 38% longer battery life (39:09 vs 28:25 hours)
- Comes with 1500 mAh larger battery capacity: 6000 vs 4500 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 25W)
- The phone is 2-years and 11-months newer
- Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 31% higher pixel density (524 vs 400 PPI)
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- Optical image stabilization
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1116 x 2480 pixels | 1440 x 3200 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 400 ppi | 524 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 500 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1300 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.1% | 90.5% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.7% | 99.7% |
| PWM | 60 Hz | 214 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 9 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.88 mm (6.45 inches) | 161.9 mm (6.37 inches) |
| Width | 76.35 mm (3.01 inches) | 73.7 mm (2.9 inches) |
| Thickness | 9.47 mm (0.37 inches) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 228 g (8.04 oz) | 186 g (6.56 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Active fan | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black | Black, Gray, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990 |
| Max clock | 3200 MHz | 2700 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (2 + 2 + 4) |
| Architecture |
- 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76 - 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 2 MB |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Mali-G77 MP11 |
| GPU shading units | 2560 | 704 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 550 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3481.6 GFLOPS | ~1126 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 384073 | 200722 |
| GPU | 592577 | 194919 |
| Memory | 274819 | 132605 |
| UX | 278228 | 175768 |
| Total score | 1530494 | 707030 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 34.2 °C | 48.1 °C |
| Stability | 99% | 53% |
| Graphics test | 80 FPS | 25 FPS |
| Graphics score | 13386 | 4298 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 8553 |
| Video editing | - | 5864 |
| Photo editing | - | 31253 |
| Data manipulation | - | 8577 |
| Writing score | - | 12260 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8, 12, 16 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256, 512 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.0 |
| Memory card | No | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 1000 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 | Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | Redmagic OS 6 | One UI 4.1 |
| OS size | 12 GB | 23.6 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 6000 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 65 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes, (wireless) |
| Fast charging | Yes (92% in 30 min) | Yes (100% in 84 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:37 hr | 1:25 hr |
| Web browsing | 13:43 hr | 09:33 hr |
| Watching video | 18:16 hr | 13:44 hr |
| Gaming | 05:55 hr | 03:54 hr |
| Standby | 123 hr | 92 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 4000 x 3000 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 1.1x |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 3 (50 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP) | 4 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9 - Focal length: 25 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.57", Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN5 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.76", Samsung S5K2LD (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - |
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0 - Focal length: 29 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens |
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/4.0" (CMOS) |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL CMOS) |
| Macro lens |
- 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 |
- |
| Depth lens | - |
- 0.3 MP
- Aperture: f/1.0 |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 16 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4608 x 3456 | 2592 x 3872 |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.12 microns | 1.22 microns |
| Sensor type | PureCel | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.8" | 1/3.2" |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| USB features |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC * | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM * | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support * | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | Yes |
| LTE Cat * | 20 | 22 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | December 2022 | February 2020 |
| Release date | December 2022 | March 2020 |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.38 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.57 W/kg |
| Sensors |
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 65 W | - |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro is definitely a better buy.