RedMagic 11 Air Review: A powerful, yet affordable, gaming phone

Design 

• 163.82 x 76.54 x 7.85mm, 207g
• Aluminium frame, glass back
• IP54 rated

I wasn’t too taken with the design of last year’s RedMagic 10 Air. It wasn’t ugly, I just thought it was very anonymous-looking for a gaming-focused phone. It’s great if that’s your thing, but gaming phones typically push the boat out a little more, and it left me wanting.

With the RedMagic 11 Air, though, the styling has been stepped up a notch. It’s now much more in line with the mainline RedMagic handsets, featuring a transparent rear panel with cyberpunk-looking glyphs and a sizable RGB-backlit logo.

It has essentially the same dimensions as its predecessor, and keeps the same boxy shape with flat siderails and a flat display with sharp corners. This time, though, the rear glass panel sits proud of the frame, with rounded corners on all sides. I think it’s a nice look, and it feels great in the hand, too.

I feel I should make it clear that, despite the branding, the RedMagic 11 Air is not a particularly light or slim phone. Compared to the RedMagic 11 Pro, yes, it’s just over a millimetre slimmer and about 23 grams lighter, but it’s still a large and heavy phone by most people’s standards.

One of the most meaningful changes with this generation is that it has a real active-cooling fan (just like the Pro RedMagic devices). When I reviewed the 10 Air, I assumed the lightness and IP rating were due to the fan being removed, but alas, the 11 Air has only gained 2 grams and carries the same IP54 rating. It’s an impressive feat.

This model has the usual capacitive-touch triggers to aid in FPS titles, but they’re slightly more subtle on this model, with less of a lip around the edge. Of course, you don’t get the impressive water cooling loop that we saw on the RedMagic 11 Pro, but you can’t have everything at a price like this.

You still get a case included in the box, and it has a similar design to the last few RedMagic phones that we’ve tested. It’s a semi-transparent frosted hard-shell case with a corrugated rear panel. The difference, this time, is that it fully covers all sides, so it should keep your phone much safer.

Screen 

• 6.85-inch 144Hz 2688×1216 OLED
• Uninterrupted display with slim bezels
• 1800 nits peak brightness

The screen is always a highlight of RedMagic phones, and the RedMagic 11 Air carries the torch well. It now matches the Pro models with a super-fast 144Hz refresh rate, up from 120Hz on the last model.

You also get the same uninterrupted view, thanks to clever under-display selfie camera technology. There’s no notch or cutout here, and the selfie camera is so well disguised that you’ll really have to be searching for it to notice that it’s there.

It’s an OLED panel, and that comes with all the usual benefits, like incredible black levels and vibrant, accurate colours. This one peaks at 1800 nits brightness, and while that doesn’t sound incredibly high, trust me, it’s a very bright panel that you won’t have trouble seeing outside.

The software gives you plenty of options to tweak the colours, so if you think it’s too vibrant by default, you can tone things down a bit. There are also eye comfort options to reduce fatigue and even a reading mode, if you frequent the Kindle app.

Cameras 

• 50MP main camera (1/1.55-inch sensor)
• 50MP ultrawide
• 16MP under-display selfie camera

The RedMagic 11 Air has the same camera hardware as the previous model, and the 11 Pro, for that matter. This means you get a 50MP main camera, with a decently sized 1/1.55-inch sensor, and a 50MP ultrawide, with a much smaller sensor.

I’ll rip off the band-aid early; the under-display selfie camera, as impressive as the technology is, still looks awful. Clever image processing makes images look passable, but video clips look atrocious. You’ll get better results from any phone that has a traditional, unobscured lens.

The main camera, on the other hand, is quite decent. You’ll get the best results in the daylight, but I was pleasantly surprised by night shots, too. The same goes for the ultrawide, but it doesn’t fare so well at night, which is pretty much par for the course.

The weak point of this camera system is that it lacks a telephoto, and you can’t expect too much from digital crops. So, if you need to zoom in frequently, you won’t be in for the best time. 

Image processing is a little hit and miss, too. Especially the portrait mode, which looks great at times, but sometimes makes significant errors with its cutouts.

That said, on the whole, the rear cameras are decent enough. They won’t be up to the standards of the best camera phones for keen mobile photographers, but if you just want to capture some memories, you won’t be disappointed.

In video mode, the RedMagic 11 Air can capture at up to 4K 60fps on the primary camera, the ultrawide maxes out at 1080p 60fps, and the selfie camera can do 1080p 30fps. This inconsistency means it’s not going to be ideal for content creators, and the stabilisation isn’t the best, either.

Performance 

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite + RedCore R1
• 16GB RAM, 512GB storage
• Dual stereo speakers

RedMagic has adopted the same strategy as last year for the latest Air model. Rather than using the latest and greatest silicon, this model is powered by last year’s best SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

I’m a big fan of this approach. It lets RedMagic keep the cost down, while still providing much better performance than a current-gen mid-range chip. The Snapdragon 8 Elite was the best on the market just a few months back, and it’s just as impressive today.

Of course, the big difference with this model is that it’s actively cooled. I’m happy to see this, as the 10 Air got very hot during longer gaming sessions.

The RedMagic 11 Air still gets quite warm, especially if you’re using the Rise or Diablo power settings to squeeze a few extra frames from your games, but it’s noticeably more comfortable to hold this time around.

When it comes to benchmark scores, the 11 Air performs almost identically to last year’s 10 Pro. Unsurprisingly, it can’t quite match the 11 Pro, with its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. In reality, that means you’ll be able to run any Android title with ease, and it’ll tackle some fairly high-end emulation, too.

RedMagic’s massive suite of gaming software enhancements makes the experience even better. There are far too many options to cover all of them in this article, but all the usual favourites are here, like the ability to map the physical triggers to virtual on-screen buttons, AI game assistance, and the ability to control your phone from a PC.

There are some new additions this time, too, although the appeal may be somewhat niche. There’s now a Tactical Coach that can offer real-time tips when you’re playing PUBG, Free Fire, or MLBB.

You can also use the voice of Mora (RedMagic’s mascot and AI assistant) to communicate in games or set voice commands that trigger in-game actions. Personally, I didn’t find these new additions too useful, but they add even more functionality to RedMagic’s unrivalled library of gaming settings.

Software 

• RedMagic OS 11, based on Android 16
• Circle to Search and Gemini
• Endless gaming features

The RedMagic 11 Air runs RedMagic OS 11, just like its Pro sibling. If you’ve used a recent RedMagic device, you’ll have a decent idea of what to expect. It mostly behaves like vanilla Android, but with a few gamery-looking aesthetic tweaks throughout, and the separate Game Space, which makes your phone feel a bit more like a console.

I find the software quite easy to live with. The layout is very familiar, and most importantly, it feels super quick, thanks to some zippy animations. You also get Circle to Search and Gemini as the default assistant, just like most other Android devices.

What I’m not so on board with is RedMagic’s alternative to the Google Discover tab. It’s activated by default and is filled with spammy clickbait news stories. Thankfully, there’s now an option to replace it with the classic Discover tab, or you can disable both entirely.

There’s also some bloatware to clean up when you first set up the phone. It’s not too outrageous, but you can expect the usual suspects like Block Blast, WPS Office, and Booking.com, as well as some folders with recommended apps. It’s not ideal, but you can have it all cleaned up in a matter of minutes.

Battery life 

• 7000mAh battery
• 80W wired charging
• No wireless charging

The RedMagic 11 Air has a 7000mAh battery, a massive 1000mAh increase from last year. It’s a very impressive feat considering the dimensions.

In my experience, the battery life was fantastic. I often went to bed with 40% or more remaining, and with my typical use, stretching to two days on a charge wasn’t especially difficult.

Of course, if you’re pushing the limits of performance, using Rise mode with the fan running at full speed, the battery will drain a lot quicker. You might find that you can kill the battery in an afternoon if you’re running Wuthering Waves maxed out for hours on end.

You get the same 80W charging speed as the previous model (and the Pro), and that speedy wall adapter comes included in the box. It’ll take you from fully dead to over 50% charged in half an hour, while a full charge takes just over an hour.

There’s no wireless charging on this model, but that makes sense given the slim design and lower price point. 

Should you buy it?