Black Shark 2 Pro Gaming Phone Attacks With Snapdragon 855 Plus And Bargain Price Tag

With the release of Qualcomm’s surprise Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC comes the announcement of new gaming smartphones using the new chip. The first out of the gate was the ASUS ROG Phone II, and today we’re seeing the announcement of the Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro.

In addition to the Snapdragon 855 Plus – which includes loftier CPU and GPU speeds – is a generous 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage (128GB is standard). Speaking of storage, the Black Shark 2 Pro makes use of the incredibly fast UFS 3.0 interface which should further improve performance when opening apps and navigating the Android UI.

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When it comes to the display, the Black Shark 2 Pro makes uses of a 6.39-inch AMOLED panel with a Full HD+ resolution. Although we don’t have any information on the display’s refresh rate, Xiaomi does say that it has a 240Hz touch sampling rate. However, we’d hope that the Black Shark 2 Pro makes use of at least a 90Hz display (like the OnePlus 7 Pro) or a 120Hz display (like the ASUS ROG Phone II and Razer Phone 2). But given that Xiaomi isn’t highlighting such a feature in its press materials leads us to think that it simply isn’t in the cards this time around.

The Black Shark 2 Pro comes with a relatively large 4,000 mAh battery that supports 27-watt fast charging. Unfortunately, those that have grown accustomed to wireless charging support on flagship smartphones won’t find that feature here. Xiaomi has, on the other hand, implemented liquid cooling to keep the Snapdragon 855 Plus cool during extended gaming sessions. And although photography likely isn’t a primary focus for a device like the Black Shark 2, it does include dual cameras on the rear (48MP primary, 12MP secondary). There’s also a 20MP selfie shooter to capture your handsome mug.

Xiaomi is pricing the 128GB version of the Black Shark 2 Pro at RMB2999 ($435), while the 256GB version will ring in at RMB3499 ($508). It will initially be available in China, while overseas availability will be announced at a later date.