Nubia’s Red Magic gaming flagship sold out in just 37 seconds earlier this week, leading to its first flash sale in China effectively ending as soon as it started, local media reports. Originally announced in mid-April, the Red Magic is Nubia’s first attempt to cater to mobile gamers, with its initial flash sale offering 10,000 units and being exclusive to e-commerce platform JD.com. The promotion in question also encompassed Nubia’s Z17S flagship from 2017 and the new Z18 Mini mid-ranger announced earlier this month, with both devices also selling out in a matter of minutes.
The Red Magic will be featured as part of another flash sale scheduled to start on Tuesday, May 1, at 10 AM local time. The company hasn’t clarified how many units will be offered as part of that promotion, though another 10,000 batch seems likely. Nubia has been toying with several prototypes before deciding on the final design for the Red Magic, having ended up delivering a device with a flashy LED stripe on its back panel. The most premium variant of the handset is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage space, whereas the base model cuts that flash memory volume in half and comes with 6GB of RAM.
A 6-inch FHD+ display with an 18:9 (2:1) aspect ratio is also part of the package, together with a 24-megapixel (f/1.7) rear camera and an 8-megapixel (f/2.0) front one. The Red Magic sports a USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, and starts at the equivalent of roughly $500. The original equipment manufacturer has yet to specify the date of its wider availability and it’s still unclear whether the Red Magic will eventually become available for purchase on a global level, though some international resellers like GearBest are likely to begin stocking it in the coming weeks. Nubia’s latest offering is continuing the recent trend of the revival of gaming (Android) smartphones that started with the Razer Phone in late 2017 and is now continuing with both the Red Magic and Black Shark, with the latter one being delivered by a self-titled Chinese startup backed by tech giant Xiaomi.