Black Shark 5 Pro review

Performance and benchmarks

The Black Shark 5 Pro is rocking Qualcomm's current top-of-the-line chip - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. That will be true at least until the beefed-up Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 becomes available in retail devices, which shouldn't be long now. We already got an early taste of its performance gains which you can read about here.

Anyway, the Black Shark 5 Pro pairs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with 8GB, 12GB or 16GB of RAM. The first two come with 256GB of storage, while the top tier variant is 16GB RAM, plus 512GB of storage. Those RAM chips are all fast LPDDR5 (6,400 Mbps). RAM can be used to create a RAM disk for occasions when even faster storage is required.

And speaking of fast storage, the Black Shark 5 Pro has its storage actually split into two. Half of it is on fast UFS 3.1 chips, while the other half is on even faster NVMe. Using the so-called DM Cache technology, Black Shark has managed to improve the random read and write performance significantly. You still get access to the full amount of storage, but optimizations are going on behind the scenes to determine what data and which apps go where.

Our review unit has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

Let's kick things off with GeekBench and some CPU loads. We can clearly see the Black Shark 5 Pro holding its own and generally scoring in line with other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 devices in both single and multi-threaded testing.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  4199
• Realme GT Neo3
  4079
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  3855
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  3845
• Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
  3728
• iQOO 9 Pro
  3708
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  3682
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  3682
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  3665
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  3658
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• Poco F4 GT
  3637
• OnePlus 10R
  3564
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  3521
• vivo X80 Pro
  3505
• Realme GT2 Pro
  3501
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  3448
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  3447
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  3403
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  3049
• vivo V23 Pro
  3021
• vivo X70 Pro
  2956
• Google Pixel 6
  2899
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  2691

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  1316
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  1251
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  1246
• Poco F4 GT
  1244
• Realme GT2 Pro
  1238
• iQOO 9 Pro
  1231
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  1196
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• vivo X80 Pro
  1184
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1176
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  1171
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  1169
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  1160
• Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
  1128
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  1117
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  1096
• Google Pixel 6
  1030
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  1029
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  975
• Realme GT Neo3
  968
• OnePlus 10R
  881
• vivo X70 Pro
  875
• vivo V23 Pro
  850
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  815

Looking at those other similar devices, it is clear that a few extra points can technically be squeezed out of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but not that many. Definitely not enough to make an actual real-world performance difference. Sustained performance is always going to be the way more important metric. You can scroll down the page for more on that topic.

AnTuTu is a lot more favorable towards the Black Shark 5 Pro and justifiably so given that it is a much more compound benchmark with things like storage and memory testing as well as graphics runs.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  974069
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  876704
• iQOO 9 Pro
  862324
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  782439
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  745496
• Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
  708579
• vivo V23 Pro
  635060
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  630726
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  617456
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  566529
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  550659
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  539699

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  1120235
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  1056511
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  1056488
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1007133
• vivo X80 Pro
  1002570
• iQOO 9 Pro
  997948
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  985226
• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Realme GT2 Pro
  966251
• Poco F4 GT
  952124
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  941895
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  940400
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  886248
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  881428
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  838832
• Realme GT Neo3
  819348
• OnePlus 10R
  759929
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  735588
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  719696
• vivo V23 Pro
  716766
• vivo X70 Pro
  694499
• Google Pixel 6
  676831
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  605569

For now, the Black Shark 5 Pro seems to only get slightly outpaced by the ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 family.

This slight lead remains mostly consistent across GFXBench and its rendering tests. The Black Shark 5 Pro is a top scorer thanks to the beefy Adreno 730 on board the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  63
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  59
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  58
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  53
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  51
• Google Pixel 6
  46
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  43
• Realme GT Neo3
  42
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  40
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  36
• iQOO 9 Pro
  36
• Realme GT2 Pro
  36
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  34
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• vivo V23 Pro
  34
• vivo X70 Pro
  31

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  46
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  43
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  43
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  43
• Realme GT2 Pro
  42
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  41
• vivo X80 Pro
  41
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  41
• Xiaomi 12
  41
• iQOO 9 Pro
  40
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  31
• Google Pixel 6
  30
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  28
• Realme GT Neo3
  27
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• OnePlus 10R
  26
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  24
• vivo V23 Pro
  23
• vivo X70 Pro
  21

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  65
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  64
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  64
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  60
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  46
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  44
• Google Pixel 6
  43
• Realme GT Neo3
  43
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  42
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  41
• Realme GT2 Pro
  39
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  37
• iQOO 9 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  34
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• vivo V23 Pro
  32
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  31
• vivo X70 Pro
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  51
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  48
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  48
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Realme GT2 Pro
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi 12
  45
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  44
• iQOO 9 Pro
  44
• vivo X80 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  34
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  31
• Google Pixel 6
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  29
• Realme GT Neo3
  28
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• OnePlus 10R
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  25
• vivo V23 Pro
  21
• vivo X70 Pro
  20

As usual, you should only look at offscreen rendering tests when comparing across different devices since that takes the on-screen resolution out of the equation.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  83
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  82
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  78
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  77
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  77
• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  74
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  69
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  69
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  59
• Google Pixel 6
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  56
• Realme GT Neo3
  53
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  50
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Realme GT2 Pro
  48
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  46
• iQOO 9 Pro
  46
• vivo V23 Pro
  45
• vivo X80 Pro
  44
• OnePlus 10R
  42
• vivo X70 Pro
  40

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  103
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  97
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  97
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  97
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  96
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  96
• iQOO 9 Pro
  95
• Realme GT2 Pro
  95
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  95
• vivo X80 Pro
  90
• Xiaomi 12
  84
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  74
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  70
• Google Pixel 6
  66
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  57
• vivo V23 Pro
  53
• OnePlus 10R
  48
• vivo X70 Pro
  45

The lineup remains mostly unchanged with lower intensity GFXBench runs as well. However, we did run into a particular issue with the oldest tests we still run. The problem boils down to the fact that the Ultimate refresh rate mode, as offered by the system settings menu on the Black Shark 5 Pro, actually runs at 120Hz instead of 144Hz. The only way we found to run games at 144Hz was by using the Shark Space gaming launcher and its per-app display settings menu. However, Shark Space refused to recognize GFXBench or 3DMark as "games". This means that both were limited to 120fps in on-screen rendering, and that's exactly what the Black Shark 5 Pro got in both Manhattan OpenGL ES 3.1 and 3.0 runs. Hence, we are only publishing the actually useful offscreen runs for these tests.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  180
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  175
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  174
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  171
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  168
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  167
• Realme GT2 Pro
  165
• vivo X80 Pro
  164
• Xiaomi 12
  164
• iQOO 9 Pro
  160
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  160
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  126
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  120
• Google Pixel 6
  117
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  114
• Realme GT Neo3
  111
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  108
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  103
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  97
• OnePlus 10R
  95
• vivo V23 Pro
  91
• vivo X70 Pro
  85

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  267
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  266
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  263
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  261
• Realme GT2 Pro
  251
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  251
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  249
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  241
• Xiaomi 12
  236
• iQOO 9 Pro
  236
• vivo X80 Pro
  226
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  186
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  173
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  172
• Realme GT Neo3
  168
• Google Pixel 6
  159
• OnePlus 10R
  159
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  144
• vivo V23 Pro
  140
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  139
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  133
• vivo X70 Pro
  129

Going by the respectable results, this doesn't seem to be an issue in our 3DMark testing, which makes sense since we are using the high-intensity Wild Life test. The Black Shark 5 Pro handily maxes out Slingshot Extreme.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  10534
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
  10118
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  10112
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  10008
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  9794
• vivo X80 Pro
  9778
• iQOO 9 Pro
  9673
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  9664
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  9610
• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Realme GT2 Pro
  9487
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  9406
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  7526
• Google Pixel 6
  6832
• Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
  5745
• OnePlus 10R
  5600
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  5556
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  5432
• vivo V23 Pro
  4713
• Oppo Reno7 Pro 5G
  4219
• Xiaomi Black Shark 4
  4212
• vivo X70 Pro
  4148

Thermal management and throttling

The Black Shark 5 Pro packs a sophisticated cooling solution. It has something called an "Anti-Gravity Dual Vapor Chamber Cooling System". In simpler terms, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and a few other chips are sandwiched between two vapor chambers on either side. There is a big 4,323 mm facing the back of the phone and 997 mm on the other side underneath the display.

There is no point beating about the bush here - the Black Shark 5 Pro gets hot on the outside. Very very uncomfortably, almost hand-scorching hot. That is the price to pay for what is otherwise impressive sustained performance.

Thermal throttling behavior

Our usual testing in this department includes an hour-long CPU Throttling test. However, the phone got so hot after 20 minutes (which is the default test length anyway) that we started to actually worry about the battery and the display. It is impressive to see over 80% retained performance, but we have to say that even with normal gaming, as opposed to an unrealistic all-core CPU load, the Black Shark 5 Pro gets uncomfortably hot to the touch. Particularly on the metal frame. It doesn't take that long for the heat to build either.

The bottom line is that user comfort suffers significantly to facilitate better-sustained performance on the Black Shark 5 Pro. So much so that we wonder whether the engineers didn't go overboard in their quest.