This new gaming phone has better specs than the iPhone 13 at a much lower price

The Red Magic 7 has arrived

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Hot on the heels ofits launch in China, the Nubia Red Magic 7 has now been announced for the rest of the world, revealing its price and availability in the process.

This cutting-edge gaming phone will be available to order from March 10 on the officialRed Magic website, where it will start at just $629 / £529 (around AU$870). That’s for a version in a design called Obsidian, which is a black shade inspired by volcanic glass, and which comes with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

Then there’s a Pulsar model, which sports a gradient design apparently inspired by a flashing neutron star, and comes with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. That one costs $729 / £619 (roughly AU$1,010).

Finally, there’s a Supernova model, which has a transparent back, 18GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This costs $799 / £679 (approximately AU$1,105). There’s no word on Australian pricing here, but the Red Magic 7 is confirmed to be landing there too.

So this phone isn’t cheap, but even at the top end it still just about has a mid-range price, and with more RAM than the likes of theSamsung Galaxy S22 UltraoriPhone 13 Pro Max.

The rest of the specs are no less impressive, including the likes of a top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, a 6.8-inch 1080 x 2400 AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 4,500mAh battery with 65W charging.

The cameras sound slightly less impressive, as the Red Magic 7 has a 64MP main, 8MP ultra-wide, and 2MP macro setup, but no one’s buying a gaming phone for the cameras. Of course, being a gaming phone the Red Magic 7 also has the likes of physical triggers and a cooling fan.

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It’s a setup that could make this thebest gaming phoneyet, but probably not for long, as the company has also revealed that the Red Magic 7 Pro will get a global release in the second quarter of 2022 – so between April and June.

This too has already been unveiled in China and it has even better specs, along with an under-display camera. Though we don’t know what it will cost yet, which could have a major impact on its appeal.

Analysis: competitively priced

Gaming phones tend to be relatively affordable for the specs they offer, but even within this niche, the Nubia Red Magic 7 is priced competitively.

TheLenovo Legion Phone Duel 2for example starts at £699 (about $950 / AU$1,250), while theAsus ROG Phone 5begins at €799 (around $950 / £685 / AU$1,235), and theBlack Shark 4launched for $499 / £429 (roughly AU$899).

So the Red Magic 7 is right in the mix there, and actually undercuts most rivals – though the BlackShark4 is even more affordable.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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