A thoroughgoing teardown of the REDMAGIC 11 Pro has exposed what lurked behind: a proper liquid-cooling system in a mass-market phone, with all the trimmings — right down to a circulating coolant loop, high-RPM fan, and giant vapor chamber. The result, as dissected by veteran device investigator Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything, is a design that appears more like an undersized desktop loop than yet another gaming handset — and which barely flinched when subjected to torture tests.
Inside the Flowing Coolant Loop of REDMAGIC 11 Pro
However, the standout is undeniably the phone’s closed-loop liquid pathway that can be seen through a back panel, with blue fluid moving as the system kicks into gear.
Circulation is impelled by a tiny piezoelectric pump, which forces coolant through channels that wind their way around the SoC and other heat sources and back to a reservoir. It is a big leap from the “liquid cooling” designations that many phones slap on passively vented vapor chambers.
REDMAGIC describes it as a server-grade fluorinated coolant that won’t freeze or degrade. With the cover off, small oil-like droplets could be observed floating in the fluid as it circulated — creating a lava-lamp effect that also acts as a real-time flow indicator. As much as it’s for show, the bubbles also help you confirm that your loop is running with a glance — a detail some hobbyists will appreciate.
Ironically, for all its transparency, the phone has most of its plumbing hidden under a brushed metal plate. Exposed, the layout looks similar to a compact PC water loop, with separate supply and return paths rather than being sealed under what would be a heat-spreader slab in a phone.
Solving Everything with Vapor Chamber and Active Fan
The liquid system is not an independent actor. The teardown suggests what the reviewer described as the biggest vapor chamber we’ve ever seen in a phone, along with an internal fan with a spin rate of about 24,000 revolutions per minute. Put simply, the loop whisks heat away from hotspots, the vapor chamber spreads it over a wider area, and the fan piles on some additional heat rejection — three levels of thermal control combined in a single mobile device.
Why it matters: sustained performance. Unaffiliated stress tests for Android flagships generally exhibit 15–35% performance degradation during sustained gaming or 3D workloads. Packaging both fluid circulation and phase-change heat spreading with active airflow in one, the REDMAGIC 11 Pro is designed to maintain higher clocks for longer — especially in thermally punishing titles like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile.
Design-wise, divorcing heat transport (the loop) from heat dissipation (vapor chamber + fan) amounts to a proven approach in compact computing. It’s unusual in phones, and that’s the point — there’s more headroom to let a chip breathe.
REDMAGIC 11 Pro proves durable and resilient under pressure
Those cooling theatrics are useless if the package can’t survive a beating. The phone crushed the bend and heat tests you would see on typical teardown channels, and it came back to life after being entirely taken apart and put back together — the liquid loop worked again as well. That’s reassuring for pump and plumbing longevity.
Immaculate hardware decisions add strength to the gaming-first brief:
- A 7,500 mAh battery that is flat-packed instead of swelling, for stability
- An under-display selfie camera so you’re not interrupting your game screen with unsightly dots
- A rear design that doesn’t bump and grind with a camera protrusion
- A 3.5 mm headphone jack so wired audio latency can be zero
The device has an IPX8 rating based on manufacturer specs, which is no minor achievement for a phone with moving parts and an aqueous-filled channel.
How It Stacks Up in the Gaming Phone Arena
They’re mostly doing this by developing huge vapor chambers and optional clip-on fans or TEC coolers — auxiliaries for models like the ROG Phone and Black Shark. With the inclusion of an actual circulating loop, REDMAGIC is gambling on consistency over accessories. There are trade-offs — I/O and potential repairability — though the teardown reveals a modular interior design that strikes a balance between being serviceable and the weather-tight sealing required of a liquid-based system.
Concerns about leaks are understandable. Here, materials and sealing are important: fluorinated dielectrics don’t conduct, and fully sealed microfluidic loops have a strong track record in industrial gear. The signs from stress testing so far are encouraging, even if only long-term field use will tell.
Price, availability and key takeaway for REDMAGIC 11 Pro
Starting at $749, the REDMAGIC 11 Pro’s cooling can be seen as less exotic for mainstream gaming budgets than before. Beyond the easy-to-see coolant spectacle, the teardown is as close to a smoking gun as you can ask for without it veering too far into showmanship — this is a practical avenue toward higher sustained performance where throttle-induced frame dips are concerned.
The larger picture is still clear: with mobile chips getting hotter and game engines getting more demanding, integrated multi-stage thermal solutions like this one could act as a blueprint for future performance phones. For the time being, however, the REDMAGIC 11 Pro is that rare gadget that looks wild inside and can back it up with serious engineering.