Xiaomi Black Shark announced - A gaming phone with Snapdragon 845 and a liquid cooling system

The Xiaomi Black Shark is a gaming smartphone from the company which aims to rival the Razer Phone. The handset features a unique design, a powerful Snapdragon 845 chipset and a liquid cooling system that will allow for a smooth experience on the most graphics intensive mobile games.

Design

The Xiaomi Black Shark features a somewhat rounded ergonomic design. The handset is overall made of aluminum, with an 'X like' shape on the rear meant to improve your grip on the phone. You will also see the Black Shark logo on the rear presented in a neon green color.

The rear also houses a dual-camera setup, made up of a 12 megapixel and 20 megapixel combination. A dual-tone LED flash is included with what Black Shark refers to as "Dark Light Enhancement Technology," for low light photography.

The front is mostly made up of the 6-inch display with a 2160x1080 pixel resolution and a 403ppi pixel density. Above the display is the 20 megapixel front facing camera for selfies and video calls. Below the display is a home button, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner for an added layer of security or mobile payments.

Hardware

The handset is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset as we mentioned before, and is available in a 64GB variant with 6GB of RAM or a 128GB variant with 8GB of RAM. The handset features a liquid cooling system, which should help keep temperatures down even when owners of the device are in the middle of playing a game. Also, further enhancing the experience will be a dual-speaker setup coupled with a high-quality microphone.

You get a 4000mAh battery, which is generous on regular smartphones but a must have on a gaming device. The Black Shark also has support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 to ensure you can quickly replenish your power.

Software

On the software side you get Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, with a customized interface on top of it. The manufacturers have included a special performance mode, which can be activated by using a dedicated button on the side of the smartphone.

Release and Availability

The Xiaomi Black Shark gaming phone is currently sold exclusively in China. However if proven popular, it could make its way to other markets. The handset is offered in Polar Night and Sky Gray color options, with pricing starts at 2,999 Yuan (around $477) for its base model and going up to 3,499 Yuan (around $557).

The manufacturer has a dedicated gamepad accessory to go along with the device, which costs 179 Yuan ( around $29) which adds an analog stick and extra buttons to the device.