Xiaomi‘s Black Shark division has unveiled its next generation of gaming phones in China. The new Black Shark 5 lineup includes the vanilla Black Shark 5, 5 Pro, and the 5 RS, with a starting price as low as $425.
Other than the SoC, the three gaming phones share a lot of their specifications including the display, camera, and battery hardware. Let’s have a look.
Design and Display
As mentioned earlier, the three Black Shark 5 phones have the same display specifications. They all have a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with 1080p resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, 720Hz touch sampling rate, 10-bit colors, HDR10+, and DCI P3 color gamut. The magnetic shoulder buttons pop up on the sides of the phone when needed.
The Black Shark 5 and 5 Pro have almost the same design, but the 5 RS looks more like the Black Shark 4 series, but with new color options. The gamer aesthetics remain as prominent as always on the back panel.
Internals and Storage
The main difference between the three phones lies under the hood. The Black Shark 5 Pro, which is the top-end model, is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but the Black Shark 5 RS comes with Snapdragon 888/888+, and the base Black Shark 5 is equipped with the Snapdragon 870.
The Black Shark 5 RS and 5 Pro’s storage is split between NVMe SSD and UFS 3.1, but the vanilla model only has UFS 3.1. All of them get the speedy 16GB LPDDR5 RAM with up to 512GB storage options. There are no memory card slots for storage expansion.
The three gaming phones will boot Android 12 out of the box with Black Shark’s updated Joy UI 13.
Cameras
The Black Shark 5 Pro gets the best camera setup among the trio. It has a 108MP primary shooter based on a large 1/1.52” sensor, plus a 13MP ultrawide shooter, and a 5MP telemacro lens. This camera is capable of 4K 60 FPS video recording and 1080p slow-motion clips.
The Black Shark 5 RS gets a downgraded 64MP main sensor, but the same 13MP ultrawide camera and a 5MP telemacro lens. The vanilla Black Shark 5 has the same camera setup as the Black Shark 5 RS.
The Black Shark 5 and 5 Pro have a 16MP selfie camera while the RS settles for a 20MP shooter.
Battery and Pricing
Battery specifications are no different here. All phones have a 4,650 mAh battery with 120W super-fast charging that can fill up an empty power cell in just 17 minutes. The Black Shark 5 RS has a slightly smaller 4,500 mAh cell, but that barely counts as a difference.
The Black Shark 5, 5 RS, and the 5 Pro will go for sale in China next week for $425, $520, and $660 respectively. You can also buy Black Shark accessories separately, including a special edition case, a cooling fan, wireless earbuds, a 30W GaN charger, and a 120W GaN charger.
Specifications
| Black Shark 5 | Black Shark 5 RS | Black Shark 5 Pro | |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×3.2 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 585) | Octa-core (1×2.84/3.0 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) | Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.70 GHz Cortex-A510) |
| GPU | Adreno 650 | Adreno 660 | Adreno 730 |
| OS | Android 12, JOY UI 13 | Android 12, JOY UI 12.8 | Android 12, JOY UI 13 |
| Supported Networks | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G |
| Display | 6.67″ AMOLED, 1080 x 2300 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 10 bit colors | 6.67″ AMOLED, 1080 x 2300 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 10 bit colors | 6.67″ AMOLED, 1080 x 2300 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 10 bit colors |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB | 8GB, 12GB | 8GB, 12GB |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB (UFS3.1) | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB (NVME/UFS3.1) | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB (NVME/UFS3.1) |
| Card Slot | No | No | No |
| Main Camera | 64 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.97″, 0.7µm, PDAF 8 MP, 120˚ (ultrawide) 5 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto macro) |
64 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.97″, 0.7µm, PDAF 8 MP, 120˚ (ultrawide) 5 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto macro) |
108 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7µm, PDAF 13 MP, f/2.4, 120˚ (ultrawide) 5 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto macro), AF |
| Front Camera | 16MP | 20MP | 16MP |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Side-mounted | Side-mounted | Side-mounted |
| Colors | Black, White, Gray | Black, Yellow | Black, White |
| Battery |
4650 mAh, 120W fast charging | 4500 mAh, 120W fast charging | 4650 mAh, 120W fast charging |
| Price |
$425 | $520 | $660 |
