Finally, after months of anticipation, Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone released this afternoon in Beijing. First of all, let us clear that it’s not an official Xiaomi smartphone but an investment from Xiaomi’s collaboration with Black Shark Technology. It’s:

“The World’s First Gaming Smartphone”

So, let’s dive into the details to know the smartphone better:

Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone – Crossing Even Mi MIX 2S in Performance

Design & Appearance

At the beginning of the conference, Wu Shimin, the founder, and CEO of Black Shark Technology, first announced the appearance of the smartphone, which was the same as the previously exposed spy photos.  It occupies a space of 161.6×75.4x 9.25mm and weighs only 190g The phone perfectly reflects the appearance similar to a gaming laptop. On the rear, we can see “S” breathing LED lights along with symmetrical sports car ID design. Moreover, the body seems to be somewhat similar to a rugged phone but keeping it to the minimum.

Also Read: Xiao AI Voice Assistant – The New Voice of Xiaomi Now Inside Mi MIX 2S

The Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone appears to be a hybrid of glass, polycarbonate, and metal. It is worth mentioning that the black shark gaming smartphone also uses a multi-stage, direct-touch, one-piece liquid cooling system with deep integration of coolant, high thermal conductivity copper alloy substrate, and nano-composite graphite. The overall cooling area is as high as 6000mm2, and the CPU cooling efficiency is improved by 20 times. Moreover, the CPU running time increases to 70% and CPU core temperature decreases to 8°C.

On the front, we have the fingerprint reader integrated into the unpressable home button. It looks like it’s the same ultrasonic fingerprint reader used in Xiaomi Mi 5S as well as a 20MP front camera. Meanwhile, on the rear, we have the  13+20MP dual rear camera configuration along with dual LED flash.

There is a separate Shark Space button on the left side of the phone. After toggling, it can enter the high-performance game mode. The phone will clean up the memory to the best state. Only the game will be displayed on the interface after pressing that.

Xiaomi Black Shark gaming phone is also equipped with a dedicated game controller. The controller is compact and portable, one-second disassembly, plug and play, connected via Bluetooth, battery life 30+ hours, also supports playing games while talking. The handle is also designed by ALPS rocker, supports 360 degrees movement and undergoes 2 million cycles durability test.

Screen & Display

Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone integrates a 5.99-inch 18:9 in-cell Ful-HD+ IPS screen. As the ratio is 18:9 so it’s a full-screen smartphone. Surprisingly, the brightness is tremendously 500 nits.

Hardware & Performance

Moving to the core configuration of the flagship, the latest Snapdragon 845 (running @ 2.8GHz) is the heart of the Black Shark along with Adreno 630 as the GPU. When compared with Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S, the Black Shark leaves Mi MIX 2S behind regarding performance.

The conference revealed Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone AnTuTu Score which was:

AnTuTu Score: 279,464 points (more than Xiaomi MIX 2S 273,741 points).

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A 6/8GB RAM and 64/128 ROM accompany the SoC. An enormous built-in 4000mAh battery powers this gaming phone supporting QC 3.0.

In addition, the phone also uses an independent image processing chip for the first time, with a high color gamut of NTSC 95%, support for DCI-P3, support for video HDR, and MEMC intelligent motion compensation technology in the gameplay to make the game scene smoother.

Regarding optimizing signals, the Black Shark gaming phone has pioneered the X-shaped smart antenna, Wi-Fi 2×2 MIMO multi-antenna design.

OS & Features

The black shark gaming phone uses a self-developed JOY UI based on Android 8.0. It comes with a game Dock, including key settings, Wi-Fi switch, phone reject, game eye, anti-miss touch, notification shield, AI assistant, clean up acceleration, Hang-up screen hang up, fast travel acceleration and other functions can be set here. Also, there are Shark Space dedicated buttons on the side of the phone and a key to enter the immersive game space.

Besides, JOY UI can seamlessly access Xiaomi resources and services, including Xiaomi accounts, cloud services, and shops.

Swiping the home button down in the Shark mode will display the game dock bar. You can see the status of the current mobile phone CPU and GPU, and you can also select the network, clean acceleration, switch phone reject mode, and other operations.

Other salient features not mentioned are as follow:

• Dual SIM (nano + nano)
• Dual Smart PA, Hi-Fi Audio, SHARK key for high-performance gaming mode
• 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ), Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB Type-C

Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone Specification Sheet

Model	Black Shark
Launch Date	April 13, 2018
Dimensions	161.6×75.4x 9.25mm
Weight	190 grams
Material	Front: Glass Back: Polycarbonate
Screen Size	5.99-inch, 18:9 ratio
Display	In-cell IPS, 500 nits max brightness
Resolution	FHD+(2160 X 1080 pixels)
SoC	Snapdragon 845 (10nm process)
Cores	(4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver)
GPU	Adreno 630
AnTuTu Score	279,464 points
RAM	6GB/8GB
ROM	64GB/128GB
Camera	Front: 20MP Back: 16+20MP Dual Camera with Dual LED Flash
Battery	built-in 4000mAh (non-removeable), QC 3.0 supported
Dual SIM	Supported, (Nano + Nano)
Network	2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 CDMA 800 / 1900 & TD-SCDMA 3G bands: HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO 4G bands: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 27(800), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 34(2000), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Connectivity	4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ), Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB Type-C,
Features	Dual Smart PA, Hi-Fi Audio, SHARK key for high-performance gaming mode
OS	JOY UI (Android 8.0)
Colors	Black and Grey
Price	Standard Version (6GB + 64GB) priced at 2999 yuan ($477) Higher Version (8GB + 128GB) priced at 3499 yuan ($557)

Price & Availability

Xiaomi Black Shark Gaming Phone is available in two different variants:

• Standard Version (6GB + 64GB) priced at 2999 yuan ($477)
• Higher Version (8GB + 128GB) priced at 3499 yuan ($557)

The gamepad is also optional with a price tag of 179 yuan ($28.5). The phone is available in two colors: Black and Grey. The phone will start selling on 20 April on Xiaomi official website. We will update you when it’s available for international purchase.

There’s no doubt that the Black Shark Phone is indeed a true gaming phone.

Source (in Chinese)