The Black Shark 4 is the latest 2021 gaming phone to face the JerryRigEverything durability test

The Asus ROG Phone 5 and Legion 2 Pro/Phone Duel 2 stand out among Android flagship phones thanks to their various respective physical fans, air intakes and general "mobile-gamer" niche appeal. However, these design choices have cost both devices in terms of durabilty, resulting in total failures during their appearances on the ever-popular JerryRigEverything YouTube channel.

Their contemporary the Black Shark 4 has now stepped up to challenge them in the same test. It is not quite as distinctive as the other 2 premium phones, having even dropped the elaborate metal-and-glass X found on its predecessors' rear panels. In fact, the 4 has a plastic backing and very standard rear cameras compared to those of, say, the Legion 2 Pro.

However, this simpler design seemed to work to its advantage, as it managed to stay in one piece during the dreaded JerryRigEverything bend test. The Black Shark 4 does have unique physical shoulder buttons, which also proved resistant to damage during the video. On the other hand, the show's host Zach Nelson found that its side-mounted fingerprint sensor deteriorated somewhat in response to routine scratching.

Otherwise, however, the results constituted a resounding win for the Black Shark 4, especially compared to its 2021 predecessors on the show. Nelson also showcased Xiaomi's new FunCooler 2 alongside the phone, dissecting it so as to display its interesting thermoelectric (or Peltier) component.

It is rated to redirect heat away from an attached phone in order to keep demanding chipsets such as the Black Shark 4's Snapdragon 888 cool, and can apparently drop to about 0° Celsius (32° Fahrenheit) in order to do so. Another YouTuber, FrankieTech, has recently found that this might get extremely necessary in the case of Xiaomi's latest gaming phones.

The vlogger demonstrated that the 4's Pro variant was woefully incapable of keeping its AnTuTu scores (found to be capable of topping 800,000) constant across back-to-back tests, probably due to overheating. Nevertheless, it now seems the series has the edge in terms of durability. It would now be interesting to see how the RedMagic 6 or 6 Pro hold up in such tests.

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