ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro vs Apple iPhone 15
74
out of 100
VS
74
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on November 23, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 15, which is powered by Apple A16 Bionic and came out 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
- Comes with 3151 mAh larger battery capacity: 6500 vs 3349 mAh
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
- Shows 15% longer battery life (29:26 vs 25:31 hours)
- 44% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2409K versus 1672K)
- Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 20W)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Delivers 62% higher peak brightness (1640 against 1010 nits)
- Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
- 15% higher pixel density (460 vs 400 PPI)
- Reverse charging feature
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- Weighs 58 grams less
- 17% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2612 and 2233 points
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1116 x 2480 pixels | 1179 x 2556 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 400 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1600 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | No | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.1% | 86.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 60 Hz | 306 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 2 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
6.8″ (20:9 ratio) = 17.3 in2
iPhone 15
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~22% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 164 mm (6.46 inches) | 147.6 mm (5.81 inches) |
| Width | 76.4 mm (3.01 inches) | 71.6 mm (2.82 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 229 g (8.08 oz) | 171 g (6.03 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Active fan | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver | Black, Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | - | Average (2.96/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | Apple A16 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3300 MHz | 3460 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520 - 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4 |
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest |
| L3 cache | 12 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 750 | 5 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 903-1000 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2774 GFLOPS | ~1789.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 14905 | 22764 |
| Single-core score | 2233 | 2612 |
| Multi-core score | 6869 | 6705 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 662661 | 462812 |
| GPU | 823958 | 453603 |
| Memory | 361209 | 222511 |
| UX | 561916 | 533367 |
| Total score | 2409744 | 1672293 |
| Samples | [5 tests] | [9 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 92% | - |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1727 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 99% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 33 FPS | 15 FPS |
| Section 1 | 36 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Section 2 | 33 FPS | 15 FPS |
| Section 3 | 29 FPS | 11 FPS |
| Graphics score | 8666 | 3979 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 90% | - |
| Graphics test | 30 FPS | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5156 | 2868 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 20450 | - |
| Video editing | 8590 | - |
| Photo editing | 50380 | - |
| Data manipulation | 14699 | - |
| Writing score | 26447 | - |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#162nd place)
Recent User Tests
ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-19 (mitchi) | AnTuTu 11 | 2432142 |
| 📘 2026-08-08 (PsIx0pAt) | AnTuTu 11 | 2320412 |
| 📘 2026-06-18 (Anonymous) | AnTuTu 11 | 2408843 |
| 📘 2026-05-01 (Shuller) | AnTuTu 11 | 2500131 |
| 📘 2026-04-06 (Vall) | AnTuTu 11 | 2409744 |
Apple iPhone 15
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-14 (Iphone) | AnTuTu 11 | 1585568 |
| 📘 2026-10-09 (Gurudev) | AnTuTu 11 | 1226584 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 (Bear lover) | AnTuTu 11 | 1714105 |
| 📘 2026-09-14 (ZUSEPRO) | AnTuTu 11 | 1603687 |
| 📘 2026-08-15 (Julian Ludwig) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 24336 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 4800 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 14 | iOS 17 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | Redmagic OS 9 | - |
| OS size | 25 GB | 18 GB |
| OS updates | - | 7 years |
| Security updates | - | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 6500 mAh | 3349 mAh |
| Max charge power | 80 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (84% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:42 hr | 1:50 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 09:54 hr | 10:47 hr |
| Watching video | 21:54 hr | 16:55 hr |
| Gaming | 08:25 hr | 05:36 hr |
| Standby | 134 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#56th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 122° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 50 MP 3) Macro: 2 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung GN5 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.5" (≈ 0.67 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX633 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.64 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 2 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 80 |
| Preview | - | 84 |
| Zoom | - | 114 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 15 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 16 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4608 x 3456 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | - | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV16E1Q | Sony IMX714 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | No | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | November 2023 | September 2023 |
| Release date | November 2023 | September 2023 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $649 | $799 |
| Successor | - ZTE Nubia Red Magic 11 Pro | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.98 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 0.98 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 80 W | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, gaming, and battery life are more important to you, then choose the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro. But if the camera, software, design, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 15.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 22