Xiaomi-backed Black Shark sets up headquarters in India, gaming smartphone launch expected

Highlights: Xiaomi-backed gaming smartphone maker Black Shark sets up headquarters in India. The company could soon commence selling its handsets in the country.    Smartphone gaming has expanded exponentially in India with games like PUBG Mobile keeping most young Indians engaged for hours. On the heels of such popular games, smartphone brands have also launched a variety of gaming-centric devices to make the most of the emerging trend. We saw Honor announce the Honor Play last year while Asus arrived with the geeked out ROG Phone. Now, Xiaomi-backed gaming smartphone maker Black Shark might soon commence selling its phones in the country. According to a report by Gadgets360, Black Shark has set up headquarters in Bengaluru. The company’s VP David Li will look after India operations while Chirag Nagendra, who was the formerly with OnePlus in the communications team has joined as Black Shark’s Marketing head.   The company also announced its India presence formally and it seems to be in the process of setting up things in India. There will be an official launch date of the brand announced later. The company is known for the first Black Shark smartphone, which is Xiaomi’s gaming smartphone rival to the Razer Phone. However, it saw a limited release in just 23 countries. The Black Shark phone was notable not only for the flagship hardware and the gamer-centric design, but also for the additional controller it comes with, that are touted to make gaming much more enjoyable. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC and comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, along with a 5.99-inch display. It also features a liquid-cooling system inside. The company followed it up with the Black Shark Helo later in 2018. The phone has a slightly larger 6.01-inch panel and comes with 10GB of RAM and 256GB storage. Both phones have detachable controllers for gaming. Recently, Xiaomi Product Director Wang Teng Thomas also confirmed on Weibo that a Black Shark 2 is in the works and will reportedly be powered by the Snapdragon 855 flagship processor along with 8GB of RAM. India is an important market for Xiaomi with sub-brands like Redmi and Poco proving to be quite popular, especially the aggressive pricing for the hardware its phones offer. Hopefully, Black Shark will maintain that trend and who knows, maybe undercut other gaming phones in the market like the Nubia Red Magic and the ROG Phone. Related Reads: Xiaomi Black Shark First Impressions: Gamer swag!

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