Home > Tablet comparison > ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova vs Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024) – which one to choose?

ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova vs iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)

76 out of 100
ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova
VS
71 out of 100
Apple iPad mini 8.3
Nubia Red Magic Nova
iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)

Here we compared two tablets: the 10.9-inch ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on September 5, 2024, against the Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024), which is powered by Apple A17 Pro and came out 1 month after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova
  • Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
  • Comes with 5022 mAh larger battery capacity: 10100 vs 5078 mAh
  • Has a 2.6 inches larger screen size
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 20W)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2333K versus 1788K)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)
  • Much smaller footprint: 37% more compact case (40.8 vs 64.6 square inches)
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • Weighs 237 grams less
  • 35% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2972 and 2197 points

Review

Evaluation of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024) crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

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Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
63.5
(Average)
Value Index
54.0
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
Nubia Red Magic Nova
vs
iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 10.9 inches 8.3 inches
Resolution 1800 x 2880 pixels 1488 x 2266 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 3:2
PPI 312 ppi 327 ppi
Refresh rate 144 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 550 nits 500 nits
HDR support - No
Touch sampling rate 840 Hz -
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 82.6% 77.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.4%
PWM - Not detected
Response time - 35 ms
Contrast - 1221:1
Screen space comparison
Nubia Red Magic Nova
10.9β€³ (16:10 ratio) = 53.4 in2
iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)
8.3β€³ (3:2 ratio) = 31.8 in2
~67% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 253.3 mm (9.97 inches) 195.4 mm (7.69 inches)
Width 164.6 mm (6.48 inches) 134.8 mm (5.31 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 6.3 mm (0.25 inches)
Weight 530 g (18.69 oz) 293 g (10.34 oz)
Waterproof No No
Advanced cooling Active fan -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-button
Area 417 cm2 (64.6 inches2) 263 cm2 (40.8 inches2)
Repairability - Average (2.73/5)
Drop resistance - Average (D) Β· 52 drops
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (49th and 63rd place)
iPad Ranking (#17th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Apple A17 Pro
Max clock 3400 MHz 3780 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 2.11 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.78 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 1398 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~2147.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 25633
Single-core score 2197 2972
Multi-core score 7410 7397
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 643259 571661
GPU 818824 477510
Memory 348314 217930
UX 522888 521861
Total score 2333285 1788962
Samples [298 tests] [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 79%
Graphics test - 10 FPS
Graphics score - 1350
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 22 FPS
Section 1 - 27 FPS
Section 2 - 21 FPS
Section 3 - 16 FPS
Graphics score - 5750
Sources: 3DMark [5]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-17 (Markyhuhu)AnTuTu 111679642
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-13 (mint.ai)Geekbench 6 GPU25633
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-13 (mint.ai)Geekbench 6 CPU2897 / 7192
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-13 (mint.ai)AnTuTu 111831753
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-04 (Helios_Qu)AnTuTu 111788962
Add View all (6)

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 4200 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 14 iPadOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
ROM REDMAGIC Space 9.5 -
OS size - 14 GB
OS updates - 5 years

Battery

Capacity 10100 mAh 5078 mAh
Max charge power 80 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (66% in 30 min) Yes (80% in 75 min)
Full charging time 0:58 hr 2:00 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:05 hr 07:39 hr
Watching video 08:54 hr 11:07 hr
Gaming 06:38 hr 04:43 hr
Standby 155 hr 161 hr
General battery life
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED Quad LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion - 240 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture - f/1.8
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 20 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4032 x 3024
Aperture - f/2.4
Sensor - CMOS
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/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 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS - GPS, GLONASS
NFC* Yes No
Infrared port No No
Network
Type of SIM card No eSIM
eSIM support* - Yes
Hybrid slot - No
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers 4.0 Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced September 2024 October 2024
Release date September 2024 October 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $499 $499
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
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, camera, gaming, and battery life are more important to you, then choose the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova. But if the performance, software, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPad mini 8.3" (7th Gen, 2024).

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
17 (73.9%)
6 (26.1%)
Total votes: 23

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