Update 1 (02/28/2020 @ 05:15 AM ET): The Black Shark 3 will come with mechanical gaming buttons. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on February 27, 2020, is preserved below.

The rise in popularity of mobile gaming has prompted a number of big companies associated with PC gaming, like ASUS and Razer, to jump ship and introduce their own gaming smartphone. The segment has received significant attention from traditional smartphone manufacturers as well, who've introduced a completely new range of devices targeted at mobile gamers. Among these is Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, who's Black Shark lineup of smartphones offers top-of-the-line specifications and a gamery design at a rather affordable price point. The company launched the Black Shark 2 Pro back in July last year, featuring a Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC and 12GB of RAM at a compelling price of just $435. This year, the company is expected to launch the Black Shark 3 and we now have a few key details about the upcoming device.

Black Shark 3

In a recent string of posts on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Xiaomi's co-founder Lei Jun has revealed some juicy details about the upcoming Black Shark device. As per the post, the upcoming Black Shark 3 will be launched in China on March 3rd and the device will feature a unique magnetic charging port on the back panel. A video about this new charging port reveals that the Black Shark 3 will come with a proprietary charger that will magnetically attach to the charging port and will feature 65W fast charging support.

Black Shark 3

The new magnetic charger is expected to offer better ergonomics for users who wish to play games while charging the device. In his post, Jun further reveals that the device will be powered by a 4,720mAh battery that's split into two and placed on either side of the motherboard. The 65W fast charging technology will be able to charge up the device to 2780mAh (or about 60%) in just 15 minutes, which is definitely quite impressive. Additionally, Jun reveals that the number of battery charging cycles on the device has been greatly increased which will ensure device longevity. Interestingly, the image also reveals that the device will feature Tencent branding on the back, which suggests that we might see some special features or optimizations on the phone for games from the Chinese publisher.

Source: Weibo (1,2)


Update: Black Shark 3 will come with mechanical gaming buttons

Mr. Lei Jun announced on Weibo that the Black Shark 3 will come with mechanical gaming buttons, located on the right frame. Most gaming phones so far come with touch-sensitive pressure buttons, which tend to lack the feedback gamers have come to expect from shoulder trigger buttons.

Mr. Jun also mentions "intelligent button lifting", but we could not properly place this phrase under context because of difficulties in translation.

Source: Weibo