Home > Tablet comparison > ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 – which one to choose?

ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova vs Galaxy Tab S9

76 out of 100
ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova
VS
70 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
Nubia Red Magic Nova
Galaxy Tab S9

Here we compared two flagship 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 Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and came out 1 year and 2 months before. 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 (1)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova
  • Comes with 1700 mAh larger battery capacity: 10100 vs 8400 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 45W)
  • 32% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2333K versus 1771K)
  • 14% higher pixel density (312 vs 274 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Delivers 11% higher peak brightness (574 against 516 nits)
  • Dynamic AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 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
64.6
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
Nubia Red Magic Nova
vs
Galaxy Tab S9

Display

Type IPS LCD Dynamic AMOLED
Size 10.9 inches 11 inches
Resolution 1800 x 2880 pixels 1600 x 2560 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
PPI 312 ppi 274 ppi
Refresh rate 144 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (30-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 550 nits 600 nits
HDR support - Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 840 Hz -
Screen protection Tempered glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 82.6% 83.2%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space - 98.3%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 2 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Nubia Red Magic Nova
516 nits
Galaxy Tab S9 +11%
574 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 253.3 mm (9.97 inches) 254.3 mm (10.01 inches)
Width 164.6 mm (6.48 inches) 165.8 mm (6.53 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 5.9 mm (0.23 inches)
Weight 530 g (18.69 oz) 498 g (17.57 oz)
Waterproof No IP68
Advanced cooling Active fan -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black Gray, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-display
Area 417 cm2 (64.6 inches2) 422 cm2 (65.4 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (49th and 64th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (35th and 47th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Max clock 3400 MHz 3360 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3)
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		 - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
L3 cache 12 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 Adreno 740
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 680 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 9692
Single-core score 2197 2093
Multi-core score 7410 5838
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Nubia Red Magic Nova +32%
2333285
Galaxy Tab S9
1771415
CPU 643259 623980
GPU 818824 451553
Memory 348314 275042
UX 522888 420840
Total score 2333285 1771415
Samples [298 tests] [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 97%
Graphics test - 9 FPS
Graphics score - 1156
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 94%
Graphics test - 21 FPS
Section 1 - 24 FPS
Section 2 - 22 FPS
Section 3 - 18 FPS
Graphics score - 5635
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 89%
Graphics test - 23 FPS
Graphics score - 3917
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
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-11 (Mohammad Abu Sayeed)AnTuTu 111749561
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Vulpes)CPU Throttle87%
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Vulpes)AnTuTu 111777999
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-03 -> Lello75Geekbench 6 CPU2093 / 5838
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-12 (niko)AnTuTu 111771415
Add View all (9)

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 4200 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 14 Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14)
ROM REDMAGIC Space 9.5 One UI 6.1
OS size - 40 GB

Battery

Capacity 10100 mAh 8400 mAh
Max charge power 80 W 45 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 (50% in 40 min)
Full charging time 0:58 hr 1:30 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:05 hr 07:39 hr
Watching video 08:54 hr 12:06 hr
Gaming 06:38 hr 06:18 hr
Standby 155 hr 133 hr
General battery life
Nubia Red Magic Nova +1%
23:20 hr
Galaxy Tab S9
23:10 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution - 4128 x 3096
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
1) Standard: 13 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 -
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 13 MP
Aperture - f/2.0
Focal length - 26 mm
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 20 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4000 x 3000
Aperture - f/2.4
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 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 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS - GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes No
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* - 1
Type of SIM card No Nano
eSIM support* - Yes
Hybrid slot - No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support No Yes

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2024 July 2023
Release date September 2024 August 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $499 $799
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Keyboard weight - 423 g
Bundled charger Yes, 80 W Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Nova is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
9 (50%)
9 (50%)
Total votes: 18

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User opinions

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Avatar
TGe November 8, 2024 at 03:00 AM
Honestly, if you have a samsung set go samsung, otherwise go redmagic
0 Reply
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