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Tencent is About to Buy Black Shark, a Gaming Phone Producer Invested in by Xiaomi

By Reon Zhang
Jan. 11, 2022 updated 02:31

Tencent is now widely reported buying the Gaming phone producer Black Shark.

Black Shark was founded in 2018 and was invested in by China Tech giant Xiaomi. According to Canalys, Black Shark had the top share of gaming smartphone models in Q1 2020, now decreasing to the fourth. 

After the acquisition, Tencent will be adjusting Black Shark’s business direction, shifting from gaming smartphones to virtual reality devices. According to the reports, Tencent will provide content support, and Black Shark will be responsible for VR hardware development. It is not the first time that Black Shark has cooperated with Tencent. Black Shark previously teamed up with Tencent games, publishing a gaming smartphone in 2021.

Facebook (now Meta) purchased VR device developer Oculus years ago, and Bytedance spent about 1.4 billion dollars to purchase Pico, a Chinese VR headset developer. Like its competitors, Tencent has already registered several Metaverse trademarks and is now developing VR hardware.

Based on the corporate information search website tianyancha, over 12,000 trademarks relating to the Metaverse were registered in China last year. Time will tell if the Metaverse is the future or just another concept.