Black Shark 2 Pro with Snapdragon 855 Plus, 12GB RAM launched in China for ~$435

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Smartphone gaming is becoming increasingly popular and big names associated with PC gaming, including ASUS and Razer, have jumped the bandwagon and introduced their gaming smartphones in the recent years. The fad has also received significant attention from traditional smartphone companies like ZTE’s Nubia, entering the segment. At the same time, newer players like Black Shark have also been attracted towards the niche market and today, the company launches its mid-cycle iteration to the Black Shark 2 with improvements both in terms of the design and under the hood.

The first and major improvement to the Black Shark 2 Pro is its processor which makes it the second smartphone to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus mobile platform. Internally, the gaming smartphone sports 12GB RAM and the technology for the storage has been upgraded to UFS 3.0.

The Black Shark 2 Pro comes with an upgraded back design for improved grips and two more RGB LED lights on the back placed on either side of the RGB-lit Black Shark logo at equal distance.

Black Shark has improved the touch response of the 6.39-inch display which now has a touch latency of 34.7ms against the 43.5ms latency on the Black Shark 2. Additionally, there’s a minor upgrade in the secondary camera which is now a 13MP sensor instead of the 12MP sensor earlier.

In terms of software, there aren’t many upgrades besides the new Black Space Dock 4.0 which is the company’s own game mode.

The Black Shark 2 gets a variety of designs and color options to choose from. Besides the traditional black-green and silver variants, the gaming beast will be available in three exciting and punchy Fantasy Edition colors. Additionally, there are three more color variants which the company in partnership with LNG Esports, which is a Chinese eSports team. Furthermore, there are some cool cases and bumpers to choose from.

The Black Shark 2 Pro goes on sale in China starting August 2nd and will only be available in two variants – 12GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB. Black Shark has made a major price cut in its portfolio and new gaming smartphone starts at CNY 2,999 (~$435) for the 12GB/128GB and CNY 3,999 (~$580) for the 12/256GB. Additionally, the company has introduced two gaming headsets, one of the in-ear type and the other, over-the-ear headphones.

For now, the Black Shark 2 will be available in China but we may expect it to launch in India a few months later, just like its predecessor.