While most tech fanatics expected Xiaomi’s gaming phone to sport the successor to the Snapdragon 845, what the Chinese company did instead was to release a refresh of the Black Shark — the Black Shark Helo. Let’s find out what improved in that 6-month gap iterative upgrade.
Xiaomi Black Shark
Xiaomi Black Shark Helo Philippines with RGB lighting
The design changed quite a bit from the horizontal main camera setup to a vertical style complete with the rear fingerprint scanner. It’s a tad thinner for Black Shark Helo at 8.77mm compared to the 9.3mm of its predecessor although both still weigh 190 grams.
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Up front, the IPS LCD panel gets replaced with an AMOLED display making it punchier in colors with better contrast ratio. It has the ability to upscale SDR to HDR.
The biggest change in specs is the RAM — available up to 10GB and 256GB for the Black Shark Helo. As for the rest, it’s the same Android 8.0 Oreo and Snapdragon 845 SoC. The change in software will be the inclusion of programmable LED strip and Gamer Studio to enhance the gaming experience by adjusting the clock speed, network, and display among others.
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Nothing has changed with the camera as they still sport the same 12MP + 20MP dual main camera setup and 20MP selfie camera. The same can be said with their 4000mAh battery with quick charge 3.0 (18W) support.
| SPECS | Xiaomi Black Shark | Xiaomi Black Shark Helo |
| Display | 5.99″ IPS LCD display, 1080 x 2160 pixels, 403 ppi, 97% DCI-P3 coverage, Corning Goriila Glass | 6.01″ AMOLED 1080 x 2160 pixels, 402 ppi, HDR, 60Hz refresh rate, 108.6% DCIP3, 10-point multi-touch, Gorilla Glass |
| Dimensions | 161.6 x 75.4 x 9.3 mm | 160 x 75.2 x 8.7 mm, 190 g |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (10nm) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (10nm) |
| GPU | Adreno 630 | Adreno 630 |
| Memory | 128 GB, 8 GB RAM or 64 GB, 6 GB RAM | 6GB/8GB/10GB RAM RAM + 128GB/258GB internal |
| Main Camera | 12 MP, f/1.8, 1.25µm, dual pixel PDAF 20 MP, f/1.8, 1.0µm, AF, 2x optical zoom |
12 MP, f/1.8, 1.25µm, dual pixel PDAF 20 MP, f/1.8, 1.0µm, AF, 2x optical zoom |
| Front camera | 20 MP, f/2.2, 1.0µm | 20 MP, f/2.2, 1.0µm |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot, BT 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, USB Type-C (with audio jack adapter) | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot, BT 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, USB Type-C (with audio jack adapter) |
| OS | Android 8.0 Oreo with MI UI | Android 8.0 Oreo with MI UI(Gamer Studio) |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 4000 mAh battery with Quick Charging 3 18W | Non-removable Li-Ion 4000 mAh battery with Quick Charging 3 18W |
| Official Price | PHP 31,000 – 6GB RAM + 64GB ROMPHP 36,000 – 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM | $460 or P25,00 for 6GB RAM with controller, $500 for 8GB with controller, $550 estimated or P30,000 for 10GB + 256GB with two controllers |
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