Xiaomi updates the first-gen Black Shark to Android Pie

The Black Shark will get Android 9.0. (Source: Xiaomi)

The Black Shark is the OEM's first attempt at a gaming smartphone. It was released with Android 8.0 (Oreo) out of the box, and had not had a major update since. However, it now has access to an OTA upgrade to Pie (9.0).

by Deirdre O Donnell, 2019/09/20

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It may seem like a long time since the original Black Shark was launched; counting mid-season refreshes, it has had 3 successors already. The first iteration of Xiaomi's ‘gaming' brand is from 2018, however – and yet has not seen a major software upgrade.

The OEM has just rectified this, however, with a September 2019 roll-out of OTA updates. They amend the version of Android in the Black Shark to Pie (9.0). The new OS adds some features such as a native screen recorder and Face Unlock to this phone.

Pie for the Black Shark also adds renewed forms of brand-specific areas of the phones' systems, namely SharkSpace and GamerStudio. It also raises the devices' security patch level to August 2019. Meanwhile, the Redmi K20 Pro, a newer device also under the Xiaomi umbrella, has been updated to Android 10 already.