Understanding the rumors about the screen refresh rate of the Samsung Galaxy S20
The smartphone industry seems to be emerging from the megapixel wars (most) towards endless competition to offer higher and higher refresh rates. The last competitor seems to be Samsung, the South Korean giant apparently bringing a high refresh rate to the next Galaxy S20 series.
Rumor has it that S20 phones will ship with 120 Hz AMOLED displays. A hidden menu in the One UI 2.0 Beta has shown that users will be able to switch between 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates, manually or automatically.
However, it looks like Samsung's ultra-smooth display mode won't work at the maximum screen resolution that phones have to offer. tipster Ice universe notes that Samsung has canceled the WQHD + 120Hz option on the Galaxy S20 series. So in reality, the 120 Hz refresh rate apparently only works in Full HD + resolution on phones.
It can now be said with certainty that Samsung has canceled the WQHD 120Hz option of the Galaxy S20 series, leaving only FHD 60Hz, FHD 120Hz, WQHD 60Hz. this means that we cannot have the best resolution and the best refresh rate at the same time. What is your opinion on this? pic.twitter.com/GaYJuOubw8
– Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 14, 2020
Adding even more confusion to the mix, the tipster previously "confirmed" that the 120Hz mode would work with the high resolution display. Nevertheless, let's go with the latest information at hand.
Before we start to growl in disappointment at the lack of a high-refresh, high-resolution display combo, let's try to understand why you want a 120 Hz screen and why Samsung could make a intelligent choice to impose limitations on him.
120 Hz: better than 90, twice as fast as 60
There is no doubt that a 120 Hz display will be smoother than the 90 Hz screen that can be found on 2019 flagship products like the Google Pixel 4 and OnePlus 7 Pro. At 120 Hz, the display will refresh your screen content 120 times per second, compared to 90 times per second on a 90 Hz panel. It is also twice as fast as the traditional 60 Hz refresh rate on Samsung’s flagship products from last year.
90 Hz reigns supreme: Google Pixel 4 is the best phone screen we've tested
This means for the user a smoother UI browsing experience. It also means less screen tearing in fast 3D games and a faster overall feeling experience when using your smartphone.
Although not everyone can tell the difference at 90 Hz, for those who do, it is difficult to return to a normal display at 60 Hz. I experienced this when I briefly used the OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy Note 10 Plus side by side. Both phones have the same Snapdragon 855 processor and similar specs, but I would take the OneHz 90 Hz screen from the Note 10's otherwise beautiful 60 Hz screen every day.
The long and the short is that 120Hz would certainly be a leap for Samsung compared to what it has offered so far.
Negatives
A 120Hz screen is certainly a welcome upgrade, but it could be bad news for the battery life of Galaxy S20 phones. We have heard that the more upscale Galaxy S20 Ultra will pack a huge 5000mAh battery, which is a noticeable increase over the 4300mAh battery on the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and the 4100mAh cell inside the Galaxy S10 Plus. However, the large battery may not be sufficient to perform a forced refresh rate of 120 Hz on the screen.
Battery drainage is a real concern in smartphones with a display with a high refresh rate. For the context, our tests revealed that the OnePlus 7 Pro takes a significant blow when operating at 90 Hz as opposed to 60 Hz.
This is why devices like the Pixel 4 dynamically switch between 90 Hz and 60 Hz to reduce the pressure on the battery. This is also why the Pixel 4 XL screen on time goes to Pixel 4 levels despite its larger battery if you force 90Hz instead of.
Related: The OnePlus 8 series to challenge the Galaxy S20 with its own 120Hz fluid display
We assume that Samsung will implement an adaptive display mode that switches between different refresh rates in the same way as Google and OnePlus. This will be especially necessary if the battery of the S20 and S20 Plus is smaller than that of the S20 Ultra, as has been said.
This may also be the reason why Samsung would limit 120 Hz mode to Full HD + resolution (2,073,600 pixels). Running it in WQHD + (3,686,400 pixels) would mean even more processing and battery power. More screen pixels mean more work for the CPU and GPU, which translates into higher power consumption.
Going back to the OnePlus tests, when running at the maximum QHD + resolution at 90 Hz, the screen per hour fell to just five and a half hours on average. In Full HD +, this number increased to around seven hours.
It is also revealing that the Asus ROG Phone 2, the only phone to sport an AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz to date, has reached a maximum resolution of 1080p, even if it had a 6000 mAh battery.
In an ideal world, high-resolution, high-refresh screens would be the perfect combo for consuming content on a phone. This is the reason why gamers save to buy ultra-expensive game monitors. Unfortunately, unlike game monitors, smartphones cannot be permanently connected to a power source.
It seems that Samsung knows this only too well and has tried to find a balance between the battery life and the smoothness of the display. Will New 120 Hz screen from OnePlus overwrite this limitation? We will have to wait and watch.