Ignoring temperature limits during benchmarking? RedMagic (红魔) 11 Pro series phones removed from 3DMark

What happened

It has been reported that the benchmarking platform 3DMark has removed the RedMagic (红魔) 11 Pro and Pro+ flagship phones from its official leaderboards, citing behavior it classifies as "cheating." The removal was first noted by users and covered by Chinese tech site IT之家; 3DMark takes devices off its lists when they violate its fairness and integrity rules.

How the phones reportedly behaved

A Reddit poster who tested the models said the scores shown on 3DMark are reproducible, but the devices allegedly bypass thermal safety limits during benchmark runs — keeping the CPU at maximum frequency regardless of rising chassis temperature. Reportedly, the phones detect when benchmark apps like 3DMark are running and lift performance throttling for the duration of the test, a practice 3DMark treats as unfair because it creates results that do not reflect normal, everyday behavior. The same post also noted that some manufacturers sometimes submit special test units that run at higher power than retail models.

Why it matters

Benchmark results are a major marketing lever in the smartphone market, especially for China’s gaming-phone niche where RedMagic competes on raw frame rates and thermals. Is this clever tuning or outright cheating? For buyers and reviewers the distinction matters: leaderboards are intended to reflect real-world performance. In broader terms, transparency around benchmarking has grown more important as Chinese OEMs push aggressive performance profiles, and platforms like 3DMark are tightening rules to keep scores comparable across regions and vendors.