Rumor | The Black Shark 5 will have much the same specs as the preceding 4S Pro

Black Shark has already indicated that it will launch a flagship based on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. This "5 Pro" might also debut with a 2K 144Hz display and a battery that could go up to 5,000mAh in capacity. However, it now seems that its vanilla counterpart might not be as impressive - in fact, by the time it is on the market, it will definitely give the impression of having been seen before.

The well-known leaker Bald Panda on Weibo now asserts that this base 5 model will run on the Snapdragon 888+ processor instead, and will have a screen bumped down to FHD+ in resolution. Its 4,600mAh battery will charge at the brand's maximum 120W rate.

These specs might seem powerful enough - however, they are also those of the pre-existing 4S Pro nearly to the letter. This slight whiff of obsolescence is compounded by claims that the 5's display will be an E4 AMOLED panel with a 720Hz touch-sampling rate all over again.

All in all, should this rumor prove true, it is hard to see how the Black Shark 5 will be marketed as a new device; perhaps it will have the same updated design as the 5 Pro. Perhaps the brand has other things to think about, a possible change of parent company from Xiaomi to Tencent included.

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