To date, only a handful of companies have released phones with 120Hz screen technology: Razer, Asus, and Sharp. Xiaomi is a likely future candidate. Although nothing is official, we can tentatively induct Samsung into the club thanks to the discovery of a hidden 120Hz display setting in the latest Android 10 beta software for the Galaxy Note 9.
Despite having the technical ability to produce high refresh OLED displays, such as the one found in the Pixel 4 XL, Samsung has been holding back from including one in any of its own devices. Based on information unearthed by frequent leaker Ice Universe, the company appears ready to offer them on some upcoming phones. The leaker shared the following screens on Twitter, which show the hidden 120Hz display setting taken from a Korean Galaxy Note 9 running the One UI 2.0 beta software.
Left: 120Hz screen setting in Korean. Right: Same setting in English.
Pending any changes, Samsung will offer users two high refresh rate options: Best display, which always uses the 120Hz mode, and Save battery, which only applies it in certain user-chosen apps. As expected, many companies continue to struggle to make high refresh screens consume less power while trying to find a good balance between performance and battery life. It's good to see an option from Samsung allowing users to decide which app gets to run at 120Hz.
Ice Universe speculates that the Samsung Galaxy S11 will ship with a high refresh rate screen, which sounds like a good bet. Let us hope that Samsung won't neglect the size of the battery and includes one that can handle the stress of a more demanding display.
Source: @IceUniverse, @ThatTechThough
Thanks: Moshe, Asher