3DMark Delists A Smartphone Company For ‘Cheating’; In Reality, It Was Letting The Hardware Run At The Absolute Limit In Benchmarks Omar Sohail • at EDT Add on Google Imagine being banned from a platform because you're allowed the hardware at its maximum performance levels / Image made using Gemini The rise of beefy vapor chambers and liquid cooling solutions has enabled smartphone manufacturing companies like REDMAGIC to push the performance limits of chipsets like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is why the latter can manage high framerates in AAA games, even when using emulation software. Now, what good is all that cooling if the chipset cannot run at full tilt, so REDMAGIC ignores all safety limits to allow the silicon to operate at its highest performance levels, regardless of temperatures. Unfortunately, 3DMark isn’t too fond of this practice and equates it to cheating, which is why the company’s flagships have been delisted from the platform. Related Story GMKtec EVO-X2 AI “AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395” Mini PC: The World’s Most Powerful SoC For AI, Gaming & EverythingREDMAGIC’s 11 Pro and 11 Pro+ have been removed from 3DMark because the general consensus is that the company cheated - Here’s what really happened While it isn’t surprising for Chinese companies to manipulate benchmarks for the sake of obtaining bragging rights and a potential sale of their flagships, 3DMark delisted REDMAGIC’s smartphones because the latter is allowing them to run at their maximum performance levels. It was initially assumed that the company attempted to squirm its way to register a higher score on the platform, but Reddit reveals more truth to the story. More specifically, a username with the handle ‘Scared-Department629’ has clarified why REDMAGIC’s devices were delisted from 3DMark, stating one of the red flags of cheating, according to the benchmark software, is ignoring the safety limits of smartphone hardware. In reality, our definition of cheating is vastly different, and as long as the handset isn’t exploding because of running at higher temperatures, we believe it’s a safe bet. “Lemme clear this: The phone CAN actually reach those points from 3DMark bcuz of its hardware BUT its considered cheating bcuz it completly ignore the safety limits pushing the hardware to its limit no matter how hot it is, that 3DMark considereds its cheating, which I think it is too. And the official RM phone company actually designed every phone that " cheat code " when detecting a benchmark it ignores safety limits. Fan fact: Some investigators found that phones sent to reviewers sometimes performed slightly better (using higher wattage) than the ones you buy in a store.” We doubt that 3DMark’s latest move will bring any change to REDMAGIC’s sales approach, as it is one of the only companies that has incorporated a vapor chamber, an active fan, and liquid cooling to its smartphones. We’re confident that we’ll see even more elaborate solutions introduced in the future, allowing SoCs to operate at even higher wattages. For instance, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro schematic leak showed the use of Samsung’s Heat Pass Block cooling to enable better thermals, which will benefit REDMAGIC when it announces its next flagship for 2027. About the : Omar Sohail is a and analyst for 's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology. Follow on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds. Further Reading Bench-a-Thon Is Back! Fire Up Your Battle Rigs, It’s Time For 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme Shunt Modded Air-Cooled RTX 5090 Achieves Top Rankings In 3DMark Tests; Power Limit Increase Helped Overclocker Achieve World-Class Scores Using Air Cooling MSI GeForce RTX 5080 EXPERT OC 16 GB GPU Review – Exquisite Cooling Design For Blackwell Galaxy S25 Ultra Thrashes The iPhone 16 Pro Max In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light With A 36 Percent Lead, Making It The Second Benchmark Where Samsung’s Flagship Has The Edge Read all on 3DMark Delists A Smartphone Company For ‘Cheating’; In Reality, It Was Letting The Hardware Run At The Absolute Limit In Benchmarks
