First Android Phone to Cross 4,000 in Geekbench 6 Single-Core
The upcoming RedMagic 11S Pro+ has emerged as the new performance pace-setter for Android flagships, thanks to a blistering Geekbench 6 score. Listings under the model number nubia NX809J show single-core results consistently in the high 3,900s, with one run reportedly hitting around 4,010 points before disappearing from the database. According to Chinese blogger @肥威, that makes it the first Android phone to legitimately break the 4,000 single-core barrier on Geekbench 6. Multi-core performance is similarly aggressive, with some scores surpassing 12,000 points. While pre-release benchmarks can fluctuate, the pattern here is clear: RedMagic is pushing single-core benchmark performance to levels that rival or exceed many desktop-class chips from just a few years ago. For Android flagship performance, the 11S Pro+ sets a new reference point that others will now be judged against.
Cherry-Picked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Aggressive Tuning
RedMagic has publicly leaned into a strategy that explains the leap in single-core benchmark numbers: chip binning and heavy optimization. The company says it is using the “best of the best” Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon, effectively cherry-picking SoCs that can sustain higher clocks and voltages. On Geekbench, the RedMagic 11S Pro+ appears as a “QTI SM8850 3628 MHz (8 cores)” configuration instead of the usual Qualcomm ARMv8 label, underscoring this custom tuning approach. This suggests a tightly controlled performance profile where every hardware and firmware parameter is pushed toward short-burst speed, ideal for benchmarks and twitchy, CPU-heavy gaming scenarios. For the broader Android flagship market, this signals a more aggressive era of performance differentiation, where the same base chipset can deliver noticeably different real-world speeds depending on how far manufacturers are willing to push their tuning envelopes.
Cooling Arms Race: Sustaining Peak Performance for Gaming
Pushing a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to and beyond 4,000 single-core points means little if the phone throttles after a few minutes. RedMagic appears to be tackling that head-on with the 11S Pro+, which is expected to feature an upgraded active cooling fan, vapor chamber, and liquid-cooling-style thermal systems. This layered approach aims to keep the high 3.6 GHz clocks sustainable during extended gaming sessions, not just synthetic runs. The inclusion of the custom Redcore R4 gaming chip and the latest CUBE Sky Gaming Engine further emphasizes sustained, smooth performance. Marketing material claims support for more than 200 games at up to 2K resolution and 144 fps, even with frame interpolation and resolution upscaling enabled. If these thermal and software solutions deliver in practice, they could push competitors to rethink their own cooling designs, especially in slim mainstream flagships.
What the Benchmark Milestone Means for Android Flagships
The RedMagic 11S Pro+ crossing 4,000 in Geekbench 6 single-core marks more than a bragging-rights moment; it resets expectations for Android flagship performance. Single-core speed is critical for everyday responsiveness, UI fluidity, and older or poorly optimized games that cannot fully exploit multiple cores. By showing what a binned Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 can do under ideal conditions, RedMagic is likely to pressure other manufacturers to close the gap through better thermal design, firmware optimization, and possibly similar chip selection strategies. It also highlights a growing divide between gaming-centric phones that prioritize raw speed and mainstream flagships that balance performance with design, battery life, and camera features. As the RedMagic 11S Pro series prepares for launch, its benchmark trail hints at an upcoming cycle of Android phones where cooling systems, performance modes, and silicon quality become major selling points.