Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a terrific performer when running in flagships, and when fueling the REDMAGIC 9 Pro, it is a lethal combination. Even in our review, we noted that ZTE’s top-end handset can maintain its performance thanks to its robust cooling solution. Unfortunately, when running AAA games like Red Dead Redemption 2, the smartphone fails to generate more than 10FPS, but that is not entirely the REDMAGIC 9 Pro’s fault, as you will soon find out.
Red Dead Redemption 2 can only run on the REDMAGIC 9 Pro through an emulator, which pretty much crushes the framerate
The testing of the REDMAGIC 9 Pro running Red Dead Redemption 2 was done by Serg Pavlov on his YouTube channel below. One thing to remember is that Rockstar’s 2018 critically acclaimed action-adventure game cannot run natively on Android, so Pavlov achieves this by running the Windows emulator called Mobox. Other titles developed for the PC were tested using this emulator, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can only manage 10FPS in the latest run, delivering a ‘below average’ experience.
We may have witnessed a variation in the framerate if Red Dead Redemption 2 launched natively for Android. Additional details reveal that the game was running at low settings, with the in-game resolution set at 1280 x 720. To say that this is beyond horrendous would be a gross understatement.
Unfortunately, Google’s mobile platform has yet to head in the same direction as Apple, specifically the A17 Pro chipset that exclusively powers the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. With support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and more, the A17 Pro can natively run AAA games such as Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Death Stranding, delivering an enjoyable experience.
On top of that, Apple has added its MetalFX upscaling technology to the games mentioned above to boost performance, something that both Qualcomm and Google should learn if they aim to bring AAA gaming capabilities to current or future flagships. However, despite the disparity between iOS and Android, we must add that the A17 Pro does not natively support Red Dead Redemption 2, so we cannot provide an ‘apples to apples’ comparison right now.
After all, this game was notorious for being resource-hungry, and it took a few years for the latest desktop and notebook GPUs to run it fluidly with all video settings set to their maximum value. The 10FPS garnered by the REDMAGIC 9 Pro is by no means a representation of its actual performance, and at its $749 listing on Amazon for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, it is one of the best Snapdragon 8 Gen3 flagships that you can get.
News Source: Serg Pavlov
