We'd heard rumblings of a new Black Shark 3 gaming phone but the device wasn't confirmed – that is, until an official poster announced the device launch was just eight days away (as of its posting).
This poster, uploaded by Black Shark on Chinese social media platform Weibo, pegs the Black Shark 3 launch event as being on March 3. Judging by the language used in the poster, it seems this event will be held in China (as the poster is in Chinese), which makes sense given Xiaomi (Black Shark's parent company) is Chinese, and often launches its products in the country first.
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While we don't know that much about the Black Shark 3, we do know it's being made in partnership with the largest gaming company in the world, Tencent Games, and the poster backs this up with that company's logo present. How this partnership will manifest for the device - whether it's hardware or software - we don't know just yet.
We also know the device will be a 5G phone thanks to another nugget included in the poster, and this might make the handset great for games streaming or simply downloading your next game on the go.
TechRadar will make sure to tune into the Black Shark 3 launch event on March 3 to bring you the latest on the new 5G gaming phone.
And then something more
Just before the Black Shark 3 news broke, a little leak did giving us some extra information on the phone.
This comes from GSMArena, which analyzed a poll posted by Black Shark brand manager to glean some information as to the battery and charging.
Apparently, the Black Shark 3 will have a 5,000mAh power pack, and support 65W fast charging (a tech already shown off by Black Shark's parent company Xiaomi). It'll also withstand 800 charging cycles without losing too much battery capacity, which is quite high compared to most other devices.
GSMArena worked this out by looking at all the poll options, and determining which combination of stats posted didn't correspond to a pre-existing phone. It's sound reasoning, but does mean we can only take this information with a pinch of salt rather than accepting it outright.
We'll find out for sure come March 3 when Black Shark shows off its newest smartphone.
