Phone comparison · UK prices · October 2026
Galaxy A57 or ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air: which should you buy?
The short answer
The Galaxy A57 leads on toughness and is thinner and lighter. The ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air leads on battery life, the camera and speed. We have no current UK price for either phone.
Comparing 2 phones
Galaxy A57Overall score 77/100
ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 AirOverall score 81/100
Differences in daily life
Battery and charging
Best: ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 AirThe ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air has the bigger battery (7,000 mAh vs 5,000 mAh on the Samsung), which may help it last longer between charges.
It also charges faster by cable (80 W vs 45 W on the Samsung), so it tops up quicker with a compatible charger.
Screen
EvenBoth have similar peak brightness (1,900 nits and 1,800 nits) and similar screen smoothness (120 Hz and 144 Hz), close enough not to matter much day to day.
Camera
Best: ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 AirThe ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air's selfie camera has more megapixels (16 MP vs 12 MP on the Samsung), so selfies and video calls can look more detailed.
Speed
Best: ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 AirThe ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air's chip (Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) scores higher in benchmark tests than the one in the Samsung (Samsung Exynos 1680), so it should feel quicker in demanding apps and games.
It also has more memory (12GB vs 8GB on the Samsung), which helps it keep more apps open at once.
Toughness
Best: Galaxy A57The Galaxy A57 has the better water and dust rating (IP68 vs IP54 on the ZTE), so it is rated to survive being dropped in water, not just splashes.
Size and weight
Best: Galaxy A57The Galaxy A57 is thinner (6.9 mm vs 8 mm on the ZTE), so it feels slimmer in the hand.
It is also lighter (179 g vs 207 g on the ZTE), so it is easier to hold and carry.
Still can't decide?
One quick question, one tap each.
Scores
| Score | Galaxy A57 | ZTE Nubia RedMagic 11 Air |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | 62 | 91 |
| Screen | 82 | 79 |
| Camera | 73 | 76 |
| Speed | 72 | 90 |
| Toughness | 89 | 62 |
| Connections and extras | 83 | 85 |
| Overall | 77 | 81 |
How these scores are made: Each score is calculated from the maker's published specs and benchmark results, using one fixed formula for every phone. We have not tested these phones in the hand. How we score phones
Specs side by side
Display
- Type
- Super AMOLED PlusAMOLED
- Size
- 6.7 inches6.85 inches
- Resolution
- 1080 × 2340 pixels1216 × 2688 pixels
- Refresh rate
- 120 Hz144 Hz
- PPI
- 385431
- Aspect ratio
- 19.5:920:9
- Screen-to-body ratio
- 88.8 %90.7 %
- Display features
- Capacitive Touchscreen, HDR10+, Multi-touch display1 billion colors, 2592Hz PWM Dimming, Capacitive Touchscreen, Multi-touch display
- Max rated brightness
- 1900 nits1800 nits
- Screen protection
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+, Mohs level 5Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
Core Specifications
- Chipset
- Samsung Exynos 1680Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
- Fabrication Technology
- 4 nm3 nm
- CPU max frequency
- 2.9 GHz4.32 GHz
- Microarchitecture
- 1x 2.9 GHz - Cortex-A720 4x 2.6 GHz - Cortex-A720 3x 1.95 Ghz Cortex-A5202x 4.32 GHz – Oryon V2 Phoenix L 6x 3.53 GHz – Oryon V2 Phoenix M
- Memory type
- LPDDR5LPDDR5X
- GPU
- Xclipse 550Qualcomm Adreno 830 (1100 MHz)
- RAM
- 8GB, 12GB12GB, 16GB
- Storage
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB256GB, 512GB
- Storage Type
- UFS 3.1UFS 4.1
Software
- Operating System
- Android 16 (Baklava), with up to 6 major Android upgrades, Samsung One UI 8.5Android 16 (Baklava), Redmagic OS 11
Main Camera
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 30 fps, 1080p @ 30/60 fps4320p @ 30 fps, 2160p @ 30/60 fps, 1080p @ 30/60/120/240 fps
- Video Features
- Gyro-EISGyro-EIS, HDR, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
- Features
- Best Face, High Dynamic Range (HDR), PanoramaHigh Dynamic Range (HDR), Panorama
- Lenses
- 50 MP, ƒ/1.8 ( Wide angle ), 1.0 μm, 1/1.56" Sensor size, - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) - PDAF 12 MP, ƒ/2.2, 13 mm ( Ultra-wide angle ), 1.12 μm, 1/3.06" Sensor size 5 MP, ƒ/2.4 ( Macro )50 MP, ƒ/1.9, 23 mm ( Wide angle ), 1.0 μm, 1/1.55" Sensor size - Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) - PDAF 8 MP, ƒ/2.2 ( Ultra-wide angle ), 1.12 μm, 1/4.0" Sensor size
Selfie camera
- Matrix
- 12 MP16 MP
- Lenses
- 12 MP, ƒ/2.2 ( Wide angle ), 1.12 μm, 1/3.2" Sensor size16 MP, ƒ/2.0 ( Wide angle ), 1.12 μm, 1/2.77" Sensor size
- Video Resolution
- 2160p @ 30 fps, 1080p @ 30/60 fps1080p @ 30/60 fps
- Video Features
- 10-bit HDRN/A
- Features
- N/AHigh Dynamic Range (HDR), Under-display camera
General
- Announced
- Wednesday, 25 March 2026Tuesday, 20 January 2026
- Released
- Thursday, 09 April 2026Tuesday, 20 January 2026
Battery
- Capacity
- 5000 mAh7000 mAh
- Type
- Li-ionSi/C Li-Ion
- Wired charging power
- 45 W80 W
- Features
- N/ABypass charging
Design
- Height
- 161.5 mm163.8 mm
- Width
- 76.8 mm76.5 mm
- Thickness
- 6.9 mm8 mm
- Weight
- 179 g207 g
- Resistance certificate
- IP68IP54
- Resistance cert. meaning
- Dust-tight and water-resistant (submersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes)Dust-protected and water-resistant (against water splashes)
Network
- SIM cards
- Dual SIM (Nano-SIM + eSIM) Dual SIM (Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM + eSIM + eSIM)Dual SIM (Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM)
- Network_5G bands
- 5G: n1 (2100), n3 (1800), n5 (850), n7 (2600), n8 (900), n20 (800), n28 (700), n38 (2600), n40 (2300), n41 (2500), n66 (2100), n77 (3700), n78 (3500 MHz)n1, n2
- Network_4G bands
- LTE: b1 (2100), b2 (1900), b3 (1800), b4 (1700), b5 (850), b7 (2600), b8 (900), b12 (700), b17 (700), b20 (800), b25 (1900), b26 (850), b28 (700), b32 (1500), b38 (2600), b40 (2300), b41 (2500), b66 (1700 MHz)b3, b41
Connectivity
- WiFi support
- Yes (Wi-Fi 6)Yes (Wi-Fi 7)
- Bluetooth support
- Yes, v6.0Yes, v5.4
- GPS features
- BDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, QZSSBDS, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS (L1 & L5)
- Wi-Fi standards
- 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac/ax802.11/a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be
- Wi-Fi features
- Dual-band or Tri-band: Varies by market or region, Wi-Fi DirectDual-band, Wi-Fi Direct
Multimedia
- Audio type
- Stereo speakersHigh-Resolution audio, Snapdragon Sound, Stereo speakers