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Black Shark 3 series announced: It has real shoulder triggers!
July 11, 2025
Black Shark made quite a splash (heh) when it revealed itsfirst gaming phonein 2018, and the firm raised the bar in 2019 with itsBlack Shark 2phones. It isn’t stopping there either, as it’s just announced the Black Shark 3 and Black Shark 3 Pro.
As you’d expect from a 2020 flagship, the Black Shark 3 series delivers aSnapdragon 865processor with 5G capabilities. You’re also getting an improved, fourth-generation liquid cooling system here, which is a must for sustained performance in demanding games.
Read:The best smartphones for gaming
The phones also stands out thanks to their charging capabilities, offering 65W speeds via USB-C and 18W charging via a proprietary magnetic charging port at the back. The Black Shark 3 packs a 4,720mAh battery while the Pro variant delivers a 5,000mAh battery. Either way, the company says it takes only 12 minutes to reach 50% capacity and you’re fully charged in 38 minutes.
The two phones also differ in terms of screen details, as the Black Shark 3 touts a 6.67-inch FHD+ OLED screen while the Pro variant has a monster, 7.1-inch 3,120 x 1,440 OLED panel. Black Shark’s new devices also sport a 270Hz touch sampling rate and claims record low latency of 24 milliseconds.
What else should you expect?
Don’t expect a 120Hzrefresh rateas we’ve seen on theASUS ROG Phone 2andGalaxy S20 series, but the Black Shark 3 phones both sport 90Hz refresh rates and a dedicated MEMC chip for interpolating content to 90fps.
Other noteworthy specs include atriple rear camerasetup (64MP+13MP ultra-wide+5MP depth), a 20MP selfie camera in the top bezel, a3.5mmheadphone port (yes!), front-facing stereo speakers, USB-C, UFS 3.0 storage, and LPDDR5 RAM.
It wouldn’t be a gaming phone if it didn’t have gaming-focused features, so we’re glad to see the Black Shark 3 series offer a few related capabilities. For one, both phones have four pressure-sensitive zones on their screens, giving you additional inputs in games.
The Black Shark 3 Pro also gets two so-called Master Buttons, which are shoulder buttons. We’re glad to see this option here, as extra inputs are always appreciated. It’s not the first time we’ve seen shoulder inputs on a gaming phone, as the ASUS ROG Phone series offers capacitive triggers. But Black Shark is offering full-blown physical shoulder buttons here, which should offer better tactile feedback.
Black Shark 3 release date and price
The Black Shark 3 launches in China on June 29, 2025 and the Black Shark 3 Pro will be available from March 10. The company says you can expect a global release in the “near future.”
As for Chinese pricing, you’ll be paying 3,499 yuan (~$501) for the 8GB/128GB model, 3,799 yuan (~$544) for the 12GB/128GB variant, and 3,999 yuan (~$573) for the 12GB/256GB option. Meanwhile, the Pro model starts at 4,699 yuan (~$673) for the 8GB/256GB option, and 4,999 yuan (~$716) for the 12GB/256GB variant.
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