Black Shark 3 gaming phone: 90Hz display, 12GB RAM, liquid cooling, 5G

Xiaomi has just unveiled the latest and greatest smartphone in its Black Shark family of smartphones, with the introduction of the new Black Shark 3 and Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones.

Inside, they are a powerhouse of mobile greatness -- packing Qualcomm's latest and greatest flagship Snapdragon 865 processor and up to 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 memory.

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What the new Black Shark 3 Pro does differently to all other smartphones is that Xiaomi has included two physical pop-up shoulder buttons that are called "Master Buttons". In gaming situations, you can use the 2 x 21mm-wide buttons that raise up from the Black Shark 3 Pro by 1.5mm from the body of the smartphone itself.

Xiaomi bakes in some serious gaming goodness inside of the Black Shark 3 gaming phones, with a super-fast (but not flagship) 90Hz refresh rate on their displays -- joined by 270Hz touch sampling rate. This means that every single tap from your finger is registered on the display much quicker than competing smartphones.

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Both of the new Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones pack Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 865 processor which is liquid cooled by two heat pipes that are sandwiched with the logic board to keep the phone cool -- as well as adjustable pressure being pushed onto the corners of the phone with the physical pop-up shoulder buttons.

The new Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones have an awesome array of camera technology on both the front and back of the phone, with a main 64-megapixel rear-facing camera that is joined by a 13-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, and a 5-megapixel ToF sensor. Around the front we have a 20-megapixel front-facing camera for those all-important selfies.

One of the best things about Xiaomi's new Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones is that they have a 3.5mm audio jack, something that is lost on the latest and greatest flagship smartphones these days.

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Charging is handled by some pins for an 18W magnetic charging capble, but the Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones support 65W fast-charging through its USB-C port. Xiaomi is able to get the Black Shark 3 gaming smartphone charged up to 50% in just 12 minutes, while 100% charge takes just 38 minutes.

When it comes to configurations and cost, Xiaomi is starting the Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones at $502 -- this will see you with the 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in the basic Black Shark 3. The move up to the 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage sees the price go up to around $544 while going up to $573 for the 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The flagship Black Shark 3 Pro comes in the same varieties, starting with the 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage model costing around $673 while the flagship Black Shark 3 Pro with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costing around $716.

Xiaomi is expected to launch its Black Shark 3 into the Chinese market on March 3, while the higher-end Black Shark 3 Pro gaming smartphone will debut on March 10. Xiaomi says that they are planning a global release in the "near future".

• Black Shark 3: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage = around $501
• Black Shark 3: 12GB RAM + 128GB storage = around $544
• Black Shark 3: 12GB RAM + 256GB storage = around $573
• Black Shark 3 Pro: 8GB RAM + 256GB storage = around $673
• Black Shark 3 Pro: 12GB RAM + 256GB storage = around $716

Black Shark 3 Gaming Smartphone Detailed Specs:

Black Shark 3:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
• 6.67-inch 2440 x 1800 AMOLED
• 90Hz refresh rate
• 270Hz touch refresh rate
• 19:5:9 aspect ratio
• 4720mAh battery

Black Shark 3 Pro:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
• 7.1-inch 3120 x 1440 AMOLED
• 90Hz refresh rate
• 270Hz touch refresh rate
• 19:5:9 aspect ratio
• 5000mAh battery

Both Phones Have:

• 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM options
• 128GB/256GB of UFS 3.0 storage
• Liquid cooling
• 3 x camera (64MP primary + 13MP wide-angle + 5MP ToF)
• 1 x selfie camera (20MP)
• 5G connectviity
• Wi-Fi 6
• USB-C
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 65W fast charging