All the rumors about Xiaomi launching a phone dedicated to gaming has now been put to rest – the Black Shark phone is here and it is official. This is also the first phone in Xiaomi’s gaming sub-brand and a direct competitor to the Razer Phone. We will not be surprised if other manufacturers jump into this relatively empty (for now) bandwagon, because we believe that more and more phones will be thrown at mobile gamers to give them more choices. But what does the Black Shark have to offer?
Users of the Black Shark will not feel lacking in the phone’s performance, that’s for sure. You get a 5.99-inch 2160×1080 IPS LCD in that trendy 18:9 aspect ratio, and presumably at 60Hz – not matching the buttery-smooth 120Hz of the Razer Phone. All that is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, supported by either 6GB or 8GB RAM, and an Adreno 630 graphics processor. To further boost this, there is a new image processing chip by MEMC onboard that brings sharper colors and overall smooth performance when needed.
The Black Shark also boasts of a multi-stage integrated liquid cooling system that brings the CPU temperature 8° C down, clearly a first in this area. You have a choice of 64GB or 128GB for internal storage, and there’s a 4,000mAh battery to power your gaming sessions. The battery charges over USB-C and there’s QuickCharge 3.0 so it fills up relatively fast as well.
If you’ve seen the Razer Phone, then you will not be surprised at the black and green color scheme of the Black Shark – although there is a “sky gray” variant. Black Shark also launched a gamepad peripheral that you can use for games such as PUBG and FortNite, and the company will be launching other accessories soon.
The big question is, will there be a launch for Western markets soon? As of now, the Black Shark is only available in China. You can get it at around USD$480 for the standard 6GB/64GB variant, or spend around USD$560 for the high-end 8GB/128GB model. Looking at the aggressive and competitive price range, Xiaomi’s fingerprints are all over this device. Hopefully we can get our hands on it soon.
SOURCE: Xiaomi
