Cherry’s return to making phones after almost 2 years is shaping up to be nice: the Aqua S11 Pro has all the makings of a compelling budget phone for under Php 8k. One of the things that caught our attention is Cherry’s decision to put a Helio G99 processor on the Aqua S11 Pro–which is a really good pick for its asking price.
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Some people are wondering about the performance of the Aqua S11 Pro, especially with gaming. So how does the Helio G99 fare when you try to push graphics settings? For this test, we ran Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, which are two of the most popular mobile games right now–and are also known for pushing phones to their limits.
We know that the Helio G99 can do fine if you keep graphics settings to low and limit FPS to 30, but what if we take things a step further? For this test, we tried Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail on the Aqua S11 Pro in medium graphics and with 60FPS enabled. For the former, we also did a separate test where graphics are set to low while 60FPS is enabled. All metrics are recorded using GameBench.
Starting with Honkai Star Rail, the Aqua S11 Pro barely breached the 30FPS mark, and we got an average FPS of 31FPS with an overall stability of 66%. Do note that the overall stability inclued several cutscenes where frame rates drop to below 10FPS. Overall, the experience is decent with minimal frame drops, and shows the Aqua S11 Pro can handle Honkai Star Rail at medium graphics despite the game being notorious for being resource heavy at times.
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As for thermals, we recorded the Aqua S11 Pro’s temperature peaking at 38 degrees Celsius after 10 minutes of gameplay, which is within acceptable levels. The phone barely felt warm, and we did not notice any throttling issues while playing Honkai Star Rail.
Moving to Genshin Impact, the Aqua S11 Pro struggled in running the game at medium graphics with 60FPS enabled. After a 3 minute run, we were getting an average FPS of 22 and an overall stability of 66%. Unlike Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact is more heavy with animations, and the low average FPS meant that there were noticeable frame drops–but nothing too significant that will affect your gaming experience.
We got a more favorable experience on the Aqua S11 Pro when we toned down the graphics to low and still kept 60FPS mode enabled. While the average FPS is only a smidge higher at 23, we got a significantly better FPS stability at 89%, and that translates to a smoother gaming experience. Overall thermals is decent, with temps peaking at 39 degrees Celsius after 10 minutes of gameplay.
Is the Aqua S11 Pro good for gaming?
Considering its price tag and its choice of internals, the Aqua S11 Pro is a solid pick for those looking for a budget phone that can handle games decently. You’ll have a hard time finding any device sporting a Helio G99 for under Php 8k (unless you include Samsung’s crazy promo offer for the Galaxy Tab A9), and having 8GB RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage allows you to install multiple games on the Aqua S11 Pro and have an enjoyable gaming experience. It’s safe to say that Cherry made a big step up on the Aqua S11 Pro in its bid to remain competitive in the budget segment.
