Nubia Red Magic 3S display appears to be better calibrated than the original Red Magic 3

When we reviewed the original Nubia Red Magic 3 back in September, we loved the phone for its stylish LED effects, premium chassis, fast Snapdragon 855 SoC, and large 6.65-inch 90 Hz display. One of its biggest drawbacks, however, was the dim screen of under 300 nits compared to nearly 800 nits on the iPhone 11 or 450 nits on the Google Pixel 4.

Nubia recently launched the Red Magic 3S as a slight update to the Red Magic 3 equipped with faster storage and the faster Snapdragon 855+ SoC. Unfortunately, Nubia hasn't updated the display as it doesn't appear to be any brighter than on the Red Magic 3. At 300 nits, the Red Magic 3 and Red Magic 3S are dimmer than most other smartphones. That's not to say that they are unusable because their displays are still sufficiently bright for indoor conditions, but users may want another option if they plan to use the smartphone under sunlight frequently. Nubia missed its chance to address one of the main weaknesses of its Red Magic 3 series.

For what it's worth, gamma on the Red Magic 3S appears to closer to the 2.2 ideal when compared to the original Red Magic 3. Colors are therefore better calibrated with an average DeltaE of 5.19 instead of the 10.58 that we measured on the original.

We recommend checking out our review of the Red Magic 3 since the Red Magic 3S still shares the same chassis and overall design.