The Asus ROG Phone 3 is a powerful gaming smartphone, but can Xiaomi's speedy Black Shark 3 come close enough to be considered a worthy alternative?
The Asus ROG Phone 3 is an ideal gaming phone thanks to its range of high-end internal specs and the number of significant improvements it has over the ROG Phone 2. However, the speedy Xiaomi Black Shark 3 might offer enough to give gamers some pause for thought before buying the ROG Phone 3. Here's how the two gaming-focused smartphones compare.
Similar to the difference between the newer and older ROG Phone models, Xiaomi's latest Black Shark iteration also sports some major upgrades over its predecessor as well, particularly in the display, camera and processing departments. While both devices carry slightly varying design choices and hardware, they do share some commonalities, such as cooling accessories and 5G support. Both are also taking full advantage of the powerful Snapdragon 865 processor, with Asus using an overclocked Plus version with its gaming phone.
When it comes to the displays, both devices are utilizing AMOLED technology, but the Black Shark 3's 6.67-inch display slightly edges the ROG Phone 3's 6.59-inches in terms of screen real estate. In addition, the Black Shark 3 comes with some differences in display performance, compared to the ROG Phone 3. For example, while both feature a 270Hz touch-sampling rate, Xiaomi's gaming handset prides itself on having the “world's lowest” touch latency at 24ms. In reality, this is only slightly better than the ROG Phone successor's 25ms. Despite that, the Xiaomi gaming phone's 90Hz refresh-rate still falls short when compared to the smoother 144Hz display included with the Asus phone. Another notably difference is that the Black Shark 3's maximum internal storage capacity and RAM is capped at 256GB and 12GB, respectively. This compares to ROG Phone 3 and its up to 512GB storage and 16GB RAM.
When it comes to the cameras, the Black Shark 3 features a triple rear-camera setup that's pretty similar to the ROG Phone 3, consisting of a 64-megapixel main, 13-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a third 5-megapixel macro shooter. Although Asus does utilize a 25-megapixel front-facing camera, while Xiaomi settles for a 20-megapixel solution. The most recent ROG Phone also packs a ginormous 6,000 mAh capacity battery, compared the Black Shark 3's dual-cell 4,270 mAh capacity. The latest gaming phone from Asus also has an edge in the aesthetics department, given its signature Aura RGB lighting back panel.
Overall, one of the biggest advantages that Asus has over Xiaomi here is the display refresh-rate as that will make a major difference to the smoothness of gameplay. In contrast, it's worth noting that the Xiaomi Black Shark 3 is already making use of liquid cooling technology, while the Asus ROG Phone 3 still relies on specially-designed vents instead.
Source: Black Shark
