60Hz was the standard refresh rate for smartphones a few years ago. As chipsets got more capable and phones could finally push more frames for smoother animation and scrolling, smartphone makers switched to higher refresh rate displays to improve the user experience. Lately, this has also allowed phones to offer smoother gameplay.
1. The current landscape
120Hz is the current standard for both Androids and iPhones, and many Android OEMs are continuously pushing the boundaries to reach even higher numbers. The OnePlus 15, for instance, refreshes its 1.5K display up to 165 times per second. In fact, one of the reasons behind the shift from the OnePlus 13’s 2K panel to 1.5K in the latest flagship was reportedly the higher refresh rate. Refreshing a 2K panel at 165fps simply wasn’t possible due to technical limitations, as a company official noted.
The performance-centric Honor Win series goes a step further, with a whopping 185Hz refresh rate. This matches Asus’s gaming flagship from 2024, the ROG Phone 9 series.
So here’s the question: do higher refresh rates help gamers? Well, only if a game has been updated to take advantage of it (mostly through frame rate interpolation). The phone also needs to be able to render that many frames consistently. While smartphone chips are getting more capable every year, the list of games that cross 120fps remains quite short.
2. Games that actually support it
OnePlus revealed a list of games that take advantage of the OnePlus 15’s high refresh rate display at launch:
- Call of Duty: Mobile
- Arena Breakout
- Delta Force
- League of Legends: Wild Rift
- Naruto Mobile
- CrossFire
As for the Honor Win series, the list reportedly covers around 20 games, including CrossFire, PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, and Honkai: Star Rail.
Brands like Honor and OnePlus could be working with more game developers to expand support for their frame rate interpolation systems. Still, it’s safe to say these titles make up a very small percentage of the games available on an app store for now.
3. A feature or a gimmick?
While I enjoy having the toggle to turn on frame rate interpolation and experience smoother gameplay on Genshin Impact on my iQOO Neo 9 Pro, it only works for a handful of supported games. It also doesn’t apply elsewhere in the UI, despite what marketing materials sometimes imply. As a result, it feels like a niche feature rather than one that should influence the buying decision of a wider audience.
So, to answer the question directly, a 185Hz refresh rate is only useful to you if a game in your app drawer actually supports it.
Most gamers looking to upgrade would be better off prioritizing sustained performance in games or the effectiveness of a phone’s cooling system instead. But if you are an avid player of a game that supports such high refresh rates, then upgrading to a phone with 165Hz+ refresh rate might make sense.
What’s your opinion? Do you think you would prioritize screen refresh rate when buying a smartphone?
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