Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Smartphone Review – Xiaomi Black Shark 5 smartphone was released in China on April 2022, alongside its bigger brother Black Shark 5 RS and Black Shark 5 Pro. The Black Shark 5 comes with one of the fastest processors for gaming and multitasking. Being a flagship gaming smartphone, the phone obviously supports 5G connectivity.
So, with the fastest 5G speeds, the phone will deliver extremely fast connectivity and the lowest possible latencies, further enhancing your gameplay experience. In terms of design, the looks a bit different from its predecessor and looks more in line with modern smartphones. The main attraction of Black Shark 5 is fast charging support, a fast chipset, and a smooth display. So without any further ado, let’s begin with a detailed review of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 smartphone.
Table of Contents
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Xiaomi Black Shark 5 features 6.67 inches AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and an extremely bright 1300 nits peak.
- It is powered by the fast 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G processor with Adreno 650 GPU.
- The smartphone is pre-loaded with Android 12 OS out of the box with Joy UI 13 support.
- The phone has a 64MP camera on the back and a 16MP selfie camera on the front.
- The Black Shark 5 has Li-Po 4650 mAh battery supported by robust 120W fast charging support.
Design and Display
The design of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 smartphone has seen a substantial change compared to last year’s model the Xiaomi Black Shark 4. The changes come in the form of camera module design, its placement, and the logo of the black shark. Gone is the rectangular camera bar and welcome the new camera module, which looks like what modern smartphones have.
The back of the phone is made out of glass and this gives the phone a very premium feel to touch. The sides, however, are made out of plastic, but it doesn’t compromise the strength of the smartphone and the phone is quite sturdy. The “S” shark logo has also been moved to the left corner of the phone and the phone features very minimal branding.
As for colors, the phone is available in three colors, Black, White, and Gray. When it comes to the display, the phone features a 6.67 inches AMOLED display panel with an impressive 144 Hz refresh rate. The panel is excellent and everything on the display looks bright and full of colors.
As for brightness outdoors, the display can get extremely bright with the 1300 nits peak when it is directly under the sun. Besides this, you get gaming triggers on the phone as it caters to the gaming freaks. The overall display is a thumbs up since you get premium specs on the screen. You will enjoy gaming with no lags with the high 144Hz refresh rate.
Memory and Internal
The chipset powering the Black Shark 5 smartphone is the 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G SoC that can reach up to a 3.2GHz clocking speed. With this chipset, you will face no problems and you will get performance somewhat close to flagship processors. Being manufactured on a 7nm processor is highly efficient and consumes very little energy. The Adreno 650 GPU inside is just as powerful as the CPU and it can run games like BGMI and COD mobile smoothly and lag-free.
The processor remains cool for longer periods of time even under intense gaming as compared to other smartphones in the same price range, thanks to the inclusion of a vapor chamber inside the smartphone. The phone comes in three variants from 8GB to 12GB RAM with 128GB to 256GB internal storage. Furthermore, the Black Shark 5 runs on the latest Android 12 OS with the Joy UI 13 user interface.
Camera
The phone has a triple rear camera system that looks very modern. The main rear camera sensor is the 64MP while the other 2 sensors are 13MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro. The main sensor is certainly an improvement over the previous year’s model and it takes decent pictures with a good amount of detail, especially considering the price of the smartphone. The dynamic range is better and the color science is on point.
The same goes for the 13MP ultra-wide sensor and the pictures coming out of this sensor have a good amount of details and a very natural skin tone. Even during the night, the images coming out of the sensors are extremely well detailed. The 16MP selfie sensor is not behind either and can take some of the most incredibly detailed selfies, whether it’s day or night. When it comes to video recording, the main camera can shoot up to 4K@60FPS but the selfie camera shoots videos at a maximum of 1080p at 30fps.
Battery and Others
The phone holds a Li-Po 4650 mAh battery inside and will back your entire day on normal usage. On standby, the battery may even last 2 days. Also, you get support for robust 120W fast charging on the device and the company claims to fully refuel the device in under 15 min. The phone has dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a USB Type-C charging port. As for pricing, the phone is at $550 (Rs. 42,000 in India) approx.
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pros and Cons
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 smartphone.
| Specifications | Xiaomi Black Shark 5 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | March 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.45 x 3.00 x 0.39 inches |
| Weight | 218 g |
| Size | 6.67 inches |
| Display | AMOLED Always-on display 144Hz 1300 nits (peak) 20:9 ratio ~395 PPI density |
| Protection/Others | Physical pop-up gaming triggers |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | Android 12, Joy UI 13 |
| Chipset | 7nm – Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×3.2 GHz Kryo 585 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 585 |
| GPU | Adreno 650 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| Camera | 64 MP (wide), PDAF 13 MP (120˚ultrawide) 2 MP (macro) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@60fps |
| Selfie | 16 MP, (wide) HDR Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | No 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer |
| Battery | Li-Po 4650 mAh Fast charging 120W |
| Colors | Black, White, Gray |
| Expected Price | $550 (Rs 42,000 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The main attractions of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 are its display, processing, gaming power, and battery. All in all, it can provide an extremely satisfying gaming performance with this smartphone. If you are a gamer or just someone who prefers hardcore performance, this phone is for you.
Considering the specifications this smartphone absolutely justifies its price. If you want an alternative option, the Redmi K50 Gaming edition is an equally impressive gaming smartphone. But the final decision depends on your budget and requirement.
