Samsung Galaxy S11 Might Have A 120Hz Display

Samsung Galaxy S11 Might Have A 120Hz Display

Screens are about to get a whole lot smoother if you’re a Samsung Galaxy smartphone user, with SamMobile reporting that the next iteration of the flagship device will feature a screen with a 120Hz refresh rate.

According to “highly reliable sources” who spoke to the website, Samsung has decided the Galaxy S11 (or S20, as it might be called) will come with one of the company’s high refresh rate displays, which until now Samsung has only been supplying to competitors, rather than using it in its own handsets.

While they are a controversial issue in cinema, higher refresh rates on phones make motion and scrolling appear much smoother, a boon for games and software animation, although past a certain (contested) refresh rate the difference is practically indiscernible.

Until recently, smartphones usually had only one refresh rate, 60Hz, but as screen resolutions have plateaued, device makers have focused on higher refresh rates to give their displays an edge. Last year, the (shonky) Google Pixel 4 and the OnePlus 7T both featured 90Hz displays and OnePlus has promised all their phones will offer 90Hz at a minimum from now on (with rumours we’ll see 120Hz on their top-end flagships), while gamer-targeted phones the Razer Phone 2 and the Asus ROG Phone 2 both offered 120Hz displays.

The rumours of 120Hz Galaxy S11 display aren’t new. In November, notorious Twitter leaker Ice Universe reported a 120Hz setting had been found hidden in a pre-release version of the Note 9’s One UI software, which was taken as a sign Samsung were looking to 120Hz as their new flagship standard. On Sunday, Ice Universe again predicted 120Hz was coming to the S11. If it does appear on the Galaxy, SamMobile believes the device will let users switch between 60Hz and a power-hungry 120Hz display mode, so they can make the most out of their battery should they wish.

The Samsung Galaxy S11/S20 is due to be unveiled on February 11, so we’ve only a little over a month to wait to find out if this latest rumour is true. [SamMobile via The Verge]


This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.


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