Black Shark 3 Pro vs Nubia RedMagic 5G: a comparison of the TOP gaming smartphones for year 2020

Several Chinese manufacturers offer, under their main brand, some additional so-called sister brands. The same story applies to gaming devices Black Shark (which is backed by Chinese Xiaomi) or the new gaming Nubia, a brand owned by Chinese ZTE.

Both gaming smartphones offer very high performance and flagship-level equipment.

In today’s comparison, we’ll look at all the key technical specifications and try to determine whether the better choice is the model Black Shark 3 Pro, or, on the contrary, Nubia RedMagic 5G.

High-end gaming smartphones

Gaming smartphones are a specific category and primarily target mobile gamers. The main advantage of these smartphones is high performance—even under graphics-heavy loads—but ergonomics is also important, meaning practical handling of the device.

Design

Another equally important element of gaming smartphones is design. Both smartphones feature rounded edges, but they also highlight contrasting sharp elements, especially on the back panel.

Rounded corners definitely help with comfortable gripping during gaming.

From a practical point of view, both smartphones have something going for them. Red Magic has smaller dimensions, so it offers easier handling; on the other hand, Black Shark has a noticeably larger display for better content consumption.

Display

When it comes to the display, the situation is very similar. It’s mainly a matter of the user’s preference. Black Shark offers a truly large 7,1″ AMOLED panel with a 1440p resolution and a 90 Hz refresh rate.

This is equipment you definitely don’t need to be ashamed of, and it’s a panel that’s genuinely enjoyable to look at.

However, Nubia went even further with its RedMagic 5G model. The display is smaller — it’s a 6,65″ AMOLED — and it has only 1080p resolution; on the other hand, its refresh rate reaches an incredible 144 Hz. That’s especially useful for players during smooth mobile gaming.

Both panels also support a wide DCI-P3 color gamut. Xiaomi offers a closer, unspecified protection, while Nubia has Gorilla Glass. So it’s a choice between size and refresh rate—depends on what you prefer.

Power

Practically the most important element of a gaming smartphone is its performance, including under graphics-demanding loads. You need to consider not only fast response times, but also heating under maximum load. For both devices, an octa-core flagship processor Snapdragon 865 (7 nm) from Qualcomm is available.

Here, we’re not talking about app smoothness or support for games from the Play Store—given the hardware, that’s a given, and the phones have enough power for any app and game, or for more demanding multitasking.

Gaming smartphone testing can’t be missing either. The PUBG title, which offers support of up to 120 frames per second by default, is the perfect challenge.

Black Shark delivered a stable result of 89,56 frames, which is practically the maximum performance of its 90 Hz panel. On the other hand, Nubia with its 144 Hz display recorded 116 frames per second.

For the Call of Duty title, the smartphones achieved practically the same result. Black Shark offers 59,97 frames and Nubia 59,99 frames per second. A special situation occurred with the NBA 2K20 gaming title.

Black Shark only managed the value under 60 frames per second, while Nubia supported full 144 frames. The test results rated the Red Magic smartphone as the better performer, with smoother performance. On the other hand, the more detailed image and its better rendering on the 2K display were recorded on the Red Magic smartphone.

Overheating?

Device overheating during performance mainly means insufficient cooling of the components. In this case, testing in PUBG for 40 minutes was successful, with an ambient room temperature of 27 degrees Celsius.

In this test, Black Shark recorded a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius at the location of the phone’s logo. At the spot intended to be gripped during gaming, the temperature was at 38 degrees Celsius.

The Red Magic 5G result was, on the contrary, a bit disappointing. During gaming, it reached a little over 43 degrees Celsius, even on the left gripping area of the device during the last 10 minutes of play.

The phone felt uncomfortably hot even several minutes after gaming, and the camera area was also very hot. This caused discomfort during the subsequent photo taking.

The testing results determined the Black Shark model as the winner of this part. Although both smartphones cooled down fairly quickly after gaming (within a few minutes) and could be used further, Nubia simply has a slightly worse cooling system, which is noticeable during use.

Camera

Both smartphones offer a set of three rear cameras. The main one is 64 MPx (f/1.8) on both devices. Black Shark also provides a 13 MPx (f/2.3) ultra-wide-angle camera, and there’s no missing a 5 MPx depth sensor for background blur.

On the other hand, Nubia also offers an additional 8 MPx (f/2.0) ultra-wide-angle sensor and a 2 MPx macro sensor.

With both models, HDR, panorama, and an LED flash are equally not missing from the lineup. The front camera on the Black Shark smartphone offers a resolution of 20 MPx, while the Nubia smartphone offers 8 MPx.

So in terms of the front camera, the Xiaomi-made model has a slight edge. The situation is the opposite when it comes to video recording.

Black Shark supports video recording in 2160p quality at 30 / 60 frames per second. You don’t need to be ashamed of this quality at all, but the competing Nubia offers better equipment.

It delivers video quality up to 4320p at 15 frames per second, and it also includes 2160p at 30 / 60 frames per second.

Battery

Black Shark 3 Pro comes with a slightly larger battery. Specifically, it’s a battery with a capacity of 5000 mAh, and the phone also supports faster charging with power of 65W.

In addition, there’s also charging via a magnetic port with power of 18W.

The competing Nubia Red Magic 5G offers a smaller 4500 mAh battery, but on the other hand it also has a smaller display with lower resolution. As a result, the battery life of both devices stays at a very similar level. However, it offers weaker 55W fast charging.

Red Magic model, according to test results, offers charging from 0 to 50% in as little as 15 minutes, while the competing Black Shark will charge from 0 to 22% in 70 minutes.

Nubia can pull it off in 100% in 42 minutes, while Black Shark takes 44 minutes. However, you also need to consider the different battery capacity, where the Xiaomi model clearly has the upper hand.

Battery life is very similar, and performance-stress tests also showed very similar results.

This applies to using HDR mode as well. So when choosing a device based on battery life, you mainly need to consider charging speed, and the Black Shark model does it better.

Price and availability

The price of these smartphones definitely isn’t low—it’s around the 700 euro mark. Neither of the pair is officially sold on the Slovak market, so you’ll need to source the phone from abroad.

The Chinese version price for Black Shark 3 Pro starts at €710 for the 8 + 256 GB version. The global version of the smartphone will be officially presented on May 8.

Black Shark 3 Pro can be bought here

When it comes to the price of RedMagic 5G, the phone is available in the official European online shop for a great 579 €.

Yes, certain flagship phones may start from even higher price tags, but at this price you really need to think carefully about whether using a smartphone makes sense for you.

Given the price/performance ratio, though, we’d go for a slightly cheaper Red Magic model with a 144 Hz display and powerful hardware.

Final verdict

Black Shark and Red Magic, meaning Xiaomi, as well as ZTE, tried to build a genuinely premium gaming smartphone that would appeal to real mobile gamers.

Both smartphones offer high performance and flagship-grade technical specs, along with an AMOLED display, fast charging, and well-thought-out ergonomics.

If we were looking at the price, we’d choose the Red Magic 5G smartphone with slightly better technical specs.

But if you’re into screen size, a larger battery, and faster charging, then Black Shark 3 Pro is exactly what you can get.