AI Models for RedMagic 11 Air — What runs on 16GB

32 great · 22 slow · 39 won't fit
Chip
Snapdragon 8 Elite
Memory bandwidth
76.8 GB/s
NPU
45 TOPS
RAM options
12 / 16 GB
Usable for models
~12 GB
Year
2026

Specs checked against manufacturer and public documentation on .

What runs on the RedMagic 11 Air

All 93 models at their recommended quant, on the 16GB configuration. Select any row for the full report.

ModelParamsQuantNeedsSpeedVerdict

~ = bandwidth-based estimate · ✓ = measured on real hardware

Best model by use case

Best for Chat

Top everyday assistant & writing pick here — ~57.6 tokens/s at Q8_0, using 1.3 of ~12GB.

Best for Coding

Top code completion & explain-this pick here — ~18.2 tokens/s at Q4_K_M, using 2.8 of ~12GB.

Best for Reasoning

Top math & step-by-step thinking pick here — ~31.4 tokens/s at Q4_K_M, using 1.9 of ~12GB.

FAQ

What is the biggest AI model the RedMagic 11 Air can run?

Bonsai 27B (1-bit) (27B parameters) at Q1_0 — it needs 4.8GB of the ~12GB usable on the 16GB RedMagic 11 Air and runs at ~9.1 tokens/s.

How much of the RedMagic 11 Air's 16GB RAM can AI models actually use?

About 12GB. Android keeps roughly 2–4GB for the system and resident apps, so of the 16GB about 12GB is actually available to a model.

Can the RedMagic 11 Air run Llama 3.1 8B?

Yes — at Q4_K_M it needs 6.3GB of the ~12GB usable and runs at ~7.1 tokens/s.

How fast is local AI on the RedMagic 11 Air?

The Snapdragon 8 Elite has 76.8GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is what decode speed scales with. Small models like Ternary Bonsai 1.7B reach ~69.1 tokens/s; larger 7–14B models land in the single digits. Anything above ~8 tokens/s feels smooth for chat.

Which quantization should I use on the RedMagic 11 Air?

Q4_K_M is the size/quality sweet spot for most models. For example, Qwen3 0.6B at Q8_0 takes 1.3GB of memory here. Only drop to Q3 or IQ4 if a model just misses fitting; Q8 rarely pays off on 16GB of RAM.

Is 16GB of RAM enough for local AI?

54 of the 93 models we track fit on the RedMagic 11 Air — 32 run great and 22 run with compromises. 39 models (mostly 12B+) don't fit at their recommended quant.

Other RedMagic phones

RedMagic 11S Pro