Are gaming smartphones such as the Black Shark 3 and Nubia RedMagic the new flagship killers?

The Black Shark 3 Pro from Xiaomi's gaming smartphone series comes with incredibly good specifications for its import price of less than 700 Euros (~$794). For example, the Xiaomi phone is equipped with a 90-Hz panel with a 1440p resolution, 65W fast charging, stereo speakers, Wi-Fi 6 and a 64MP camera, 5G, a touch sampling rate of 270 Hz as well as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC. The non-Pro Black Shark 3 and the RedMagic 5G from Nubia come with very good specifications as well and they are significantly cheaper. Even the European MSRP of 599 Euros (~$680) is a fair ask for the Black Shark 3 Pro, relative to the prices of high-end smartphones. After all, while flagship killers of the past such as OnePlus or Mi-series phones are now on par with a Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus - this unfortunately also includes the price.

Non-gaming phones with a high-end SoC from Qualcomm such as the Xiaomi Mi 10 or OnePlus 8 are at least 100 Euros more expensive than the Black Shark 3 or Nubia RedMagic 5G. Even the Pocophone F2 Pro with 8 GB of RAM is priced similarly, despite only being equipped with a 60Hz panel.

As such, the gaming niche in the Android sector with its high demands directed at the performance of the hardware, (at least currently) appears to be the best bet in terms of the best price-performance ratio available - that is until gaming phones become more popular.

If the Black Shark Pro smartphone has piqued your interest, you can find more details related to the gaming phone in our in-depth review of the Black Shark 3 Pro.