Gaming phones are becoming increasingly popular, and Xiaomi is keeping pace with its Black Shark series. The latest version, Black Shark 4 and 4 Pro, appeared in the Chinese store. You can pre-order one today, with the phones set to launch in China on Thursday, the 25th. An international launch has not been defined.
Black Shark 4 Pro
The barrier-free Black Shark 4 Pro uses a Snapdragon 888 processor, the largest and worst Qualcomm processor available. It is paired with 8 GB or 12 GB of ultra-fast LPDDR5 RAM, with 256 GB of storage on both models. But these are not exactly difficult to find today. The most obvious gift that this is a gaming phone is the dedicated mechanical shoulder buttons on the side: slide the locks to let them show up. Like the shoulder buttons in Black Shark 3, they can be attached to touch areas on the screen for integration with more or less any game.
The 4 Pro uses a 6.67-inch AMOLED 1080p screen, with a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, surpassing most gaming phones. It also has two pressure sensitivity zones (as in the amount of pressure applied, not just touch sensitive), allowing for greater integration in games that can support it. Its battery is 4500mAh, quite typical for a phone of this size, but it supports fast charging in completely wacky 120 watts (with the charger included in the box). Xiaomi says it can charge 90% of the battery in just over half an hour.
The cameras in the Pro are respectable: 64 MP main shooter, 8 MP ultra wide and 5 MP macro, with a centralized 20 MP front camera. In terms of style, the flat black version really does look pretty buttoned up – if you don’t notice the side buttons (and the LED triangle logo on the back remains unlit), you’ll have a hard time saying it’s a gaming phone. Of course, this comes out of the window if you get the version “So Empty Black” (which is automatically translated, so we are not sure if this is the official name). Its semi-transparent layered glass moves as you look at it, in a much more striking but not unpleasant way.
The phone is somewhat robust at 9.9 mm, but is thick enough to include a headset and a fingerprint reader mounted on the side. The dual-SIM radio works with 5G and, for absolutely intense sessions, you can attach the cooling module sold separately. The Black Shark 4 Pro starts at ¥ 4000 for the basic model, only black, reaching ¥ 4500 for the version of 12 GB of RAM. This is approximately $ 615 and $ 690, respectively.
Black Shark 4
What about the non-Pro? The standard Black Shark 4 replaces the expensive Snapdragon 888 with an 870, basically an updated version of last year’s main chip. It has identical body, screen and battery with 120 watts fast charge, but the base model drops to just 6GB / 128GB. Upgrades up to 12GB / 256GB are available.
You lose that dual-zone pressure sensitive screen and lower the main camera to “only” 48 megapixels, but the Black Shark 4 keeps those unique shoulder buttons and most of the rest of the hardware. It costs between ¥ 2,500 and ¥ 3,000, depending on your RAM and storage options.
Both phones are running JoyUI, based on Xiaomi’s MIUI, which in general has been well received. The phones are being launched in China just for the time being, but previous models were made available globally as unlocked devices. With the current explosion of gaming phones, it seems likely that the 4 will follow.