On March 30, the Black Shark 5 Pro was officially released. As a flagship gaming phone with a “full-level” configuration, its gaming experience can naturally be said to be the top level among Android flagship phones. So, will the Black Shark 5 Pro’s gaming experience be better than the iPhone 13 Pro Max equipped with A15?
As we all know, the Apple A15 has both powerful performance release and excellent energy efficiency, which gives the iPhone 13 Pro Max an inherent advantage in gaming experience. However, the cooling configuration and operating experience of the Black Shark 5 Pro are even more outstanding. The following is a comparison of the actual measurement to take you to understand the difference between the two models in terms of game experience.
The difference in extreme performance is obvious: Benchmark performance comparison
The extreme performance of the chip can be said to be an important factor affecting the gaming experience, so we first conduct a benchmark performance test of the two models. Although Black Shark 5 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max belong to different system platforms, we can still compare their performance through cross-platform benchmarking software.
Before releasing the running scores, we will introduce the various performance parameters of Black Shark 5 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max as usual. Black Shark 5 Pro is equipped with a new generation of Snapdragon 8 processor. Compared with the Snapdragon 888, the CPU performance is improved by 20% and the energy efficiency is improved by 30%. This review is for the Black Shark 5 Pro 12GB+256GB version. In terms of storage, this model also introduces a disk array solution with enterprise-level storage performance, combining an SSD solid state drive and a UFS3.1 disk through a RAID disk array to perform storage and read and write operations in parallel.
The new generation of Snapdragon 8 processor
The iPhone 13 Pro Max uses the A15 processor. The CPU part of the processor has 2 performance cores and 4 energy efficiency cores, the GPU part has a 5-core graphics processor, and also integrates a new 16-core neural network engine.
Apple A15 processor
Through the actual benchmark performance test, the Black Shark 5 Pro achieved a single-core score of 1213 and a multi-core score of 3737 in the Geekbench5 test. The Black Shark 5 Pro also scored 2583 in 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme test. This result is among the top Android flagship models, so it can be considered that the Black Shark 5 Pro has fully released the performance of the new-generation Snapdragon 8 processor.
In the Geekbench 5 test, the iPhone 13 Pro Max achieved a single-core score of 1747 and a multi-core score of 4805. In 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme test, the iPhone 13 Pro Max also scored 3126 points, which can be said to be the “ceiling” level of current smartphones.
Through the actual performance benchmark comparison, it can be found that the benchmark performance of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is significantly better than that of the Black Shark 5 Pro. This means that theoretically, the game frame rate performance of the iPhone 13 Pro Max will be better.
Excellent practical experience is the real king: Game experience comparison
The pure performance benchmark test does not show the actual gaming experience of the two mobile phones. The actual game frame rate is also an important indicator to test the actual game experience of a mobile phone. Therefore, we used two mobile phones to conduct a 15-minute high-load mode comparison test on Genshin Impact.
In the test, we set the “Genshin Impact” quality option settings of both phones to very high quality + 60 frames. The game screen data recorded by PerfDog under this setting shows that the Black Shark 5 Pro can stably run the 60-frame mode of Genshin Impact, which has extremely high requirements on mobile phone performance, at an excellent frame rate of 59.8 frames on average.
Black Shark 5 Pro PerfDog frame rate data
Under the same test conditions, the average frame rate measured by PerfDog of the iPhone 13 Pro Max after 15 minutes of gaming was 58.4 frames. Through comparison, we can find that the measured frame rate performance of the Black Shark 5 Pro is more stable than that of the iPhone 13 Pro Max without considering the difference in image quality of different system platforms. Although the average frame rate of the two is similar, the frame rate performance of the Black Shark 5 Pro is closer to 60 frames full frame operation.
iPhone 13 Pro Max PerfDog frame rate data
In addition to excellent game performance, Black Shark 5 Pro can also optimize and upgrade GameEngine software performance according to game usage scenarios. Thermal control key components thermal control optimization and AI process monitoring, which in turn bring more stable and long-lasting performance.
In FPS games, we can also turn on the dual magnetic physical shoulder buttons of Black Shark 5 Pro, use the shoulder buttons to control mirror opening and shooting, and use both hands to control operations such as moving the roulette, shooting and pressing the gun. Thanks to the U-shaped guide grooves suitable for the curvature of the fingers, there will be no discomfort in the fingers even during long-term gaming.
Black Shark 5 Pro Dual Magnetic Solid Shoulder Buttons
In addition, the Black Shark 5 Pro also adopts a new generation of dual-zone screen pressure-sensing technology, which increases the pressure-sensitive effective area by 16%. During the game, we don’t need to find the button position, just press the blank area of the screen directly, Black Shark 5 Pro will automatically recognize the preset button to help us release the attack, making the game operation smoother.
Conclusion
Through the actual measurement comparison, it can be found that the performance of the two mobile phones is very good. However, the actual game experience is not reflected in the performance score alone. In actual use, various configurations of the mobile phone will have different effects on its actual gaming experience. Although the ultimate performance of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is more powerful, the Black Shark 5 Pro with multiple innovative touch technologies and powerful cooling specifications is more suitable for long-term gaming experience.
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