Latest RedMagic gaming phone line caught 'cheating' in 3DMark benchmark

3DMark is no longer including benchmark scores from the RedMagic 11 Pro lineup in its performance rankings. This delisting came into effect after the benchmarking firm found that the gaming phone series was not complying with its rules and was "cheating" to achieve high scores.

As for the cheat, it's not something new for smartphone manufacturers. Basically, RedMagic was found ignoring the safety limits of the hardware to achieve high scores, which goes against the rules of 3DMark. The safety limits in question are likely power draw and temperature control.

That is, the RedMagic 11 Pro series phones do not throttle the SoC even when the temperature exceeds the safe limit during benchmarks. As it turns out, the gaming phone lineup isn't doing this only during benchmarks. Some Reddit users have pointed out that the devices are getting extremely hot when running demanding games like Tomb Raider 2013.

One user even claims that their RedMagic 11 Pro shuts down when running Tomb Raider 2013 at 144 FPS. A recent video from ETA Prime has also highlighted that during heavyweight PC game emulation, the latest RedMagic Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phones can draw over 40 watts of power, which is quite worrying from a thermal perspective.

Of course, the active fan and cooling setup of the RedMagic 11 Pro series does help keep the phones cool, but under extreme loads, even the most advanced coolers reach their limit. But then again, RedMagic isn't the first company caught ignoring thermal limits for high scores.

Back in 2020, MediaTek was caught disabling safeguards such as thermal throttling on its SoCs during benchmarks. Huawei was also caught ignoring thermal design power recommendations for benchmarks in 2018.

For users of the RedMagic 11 Pro series, to prolong the lifespan of the hardware, it would be a good idea not to set the gaming phone to the highest performance mode. Those who tend to game for prolonged periods can benefit from an external cooler to keep the device's temperature down (Torras PolarCircle Qi2.2 wireless charger and cooler combo curr. $63.99 on Amazon).