Xiaomi Black Shark 3: This black shark isn't a long-distance swimmer

According to Wikipedia, a great white shark can swim up to 80 kilometers and reach a bite force of up to 18,216 newtons.

Since there is no such thing as a black shark in the animal world, Xiaomi has chosen this name for its gaming smartphone series. In its third iteration, the Xiaomi Black Shark 3 shows itself to be very powerful thanks to its high processing power accompanied by fast internal storage and lots of RAM. In terms of stamina, however, the black smartphone shark does not quite match its white counterpart in nature: The battery life is mediocre at best.

That being said, the low starting price of 599 Euros (~$685), decent cameras, fast and well-calibrated 90-Hz display as well as the fast Wi-Fi 6 module may let users look past the poor stamina of the device.

Due to the lack of NFC, the Xiaomi Black Shark 3 is not a good fit for those who use mobile payment services. This is a faux pas, that even cheaper flagship phones should avoid.

While Xiaomi has also omitted wireless charging and an IP certification, these are reasonable compromises in light of the low price.

Xiaomi offers a wide range of accessories such as a magnetic charging cable that does not get in the way during gaming. A fan that can be attached to the case is also available on the manufacturer's online shop. However, since the heat development is only moderate and the processor does not throttle even under heavy loads, an extra fan seems unnecessary.

Overall, the Black Shark 3 is a very fast gaming smartphone with a fair price. But what sets it apart from all the other gaming smartphones? Our in-depth review (which is guaranteed to contain no shark facts) answers this and many more questions as well as providing detailed results from various test categories.