Redmi’s K90 Ultra has barely been announced, and it is already making a fairly rude point: raw gaming performance is not just about the chip. A fresh set of reported results says the phone’s built-in fan, D2 graphics chip, and oversized cooling hardware let it outpace several Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phones in sustained play, which is exactly the kind of bragging rights that turn launch day into a comparison trap.
The Redmi K90 Ultra is due to launch in China on June 30, and the early numbers suggest Redmi is aiming at gamers who care more about frame stability and heat than benchmark theater. That’s a crowded pitch, but also a smart one: Asus and RedMagic have been selling cooling-first phones for years, and Redmi now appears ready to join that club with a much more mainstream badge.
Redmi K90 Ultra gaming results
According to the reported test data, the K90 Ultra averaged 165fps in 60-minute ”Genshin Impact” gameplay with 3x frame interpolation enabled, while drawing 5.8W on average. In ”Honkai: Star Rail,” it reportedly hit 59.7fps with average power consumption of 7.5W, and the source claims its 1% low, average frame rate, and power use were even better than those of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phones.
”PUBG” allegedly ran at 164.8fps with virtually no frame drops, while ”Honor of Kings” reached a steady 144fps at the highest graphics preset and averaged just 3.4W. The 1% low was said to hold at 140fps, which is the kind of consistency that actually matters once the phone gets warm and your hands start to notice the difference.
- ”Genshin Impact”: 165fps average, 5.8W, 60-minute test, 3x frame interpolation
- ”Honkai: Star Rail”: 59.7fps average, 7.5W
- ”PUBG”: 164.8fps, virtually no frame drops
- ”Honor of Kings”: 144fps average, 3.4W, 140fps 1% low
Why the cooling setup matters
The hardware recipe is the real story here: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, Redmi’s in-house D2 graphics chip, a 6,700mm² 3D Ice-Sealed Heatsink, and an active cooling fan. That combination is designed to keep performance from collapsing under load, and if these reports hold up, Redmi may have found a more effective answer to mobile gaming throttling than simply chasing a newer chip name every few months.
The likely sting in the side-by-side comparison is obvious. Fanless phones can win short bursts, but sustained gaming is where heat makes the spec sheet look silly, and the K90 Ultra seems built to exploit that weakness. Reports also point to a battery larger than 8,500mAh and 100W wired charging, which would help if the fan and high frame rates are going to be used for anything longer than a quick victory lap.
What Redmi has not said yet
Redmi is expected to reveal more specifications before launch, so there is still room for the company to make the K90 Ultra sound even more overbuilt in the best possible way. The open question is whether this will stay a niche gaming monster or become a template for future phones that need to keep performance high without turning into pocket-sized hand warmers.