As you know, Samsung is the most important supplier of displays for many companies, in particular for Apple. There are a lot of rumors around their cooperation: for example, it is believed that Samsung in its laboratories is preparing an updated flexible display not only for a foldable iPhone, but even for something like a MacBook or tablet. However, these are either insider speculations, not documented, or plans for the distant future. What is more realistic is the work on changing existing technologies. The media reported that the South Korean company is preparing new type of displays, in which the refresh rate will become adaptive in different parts of the screen. Let’s figure out how this is possible and is it true that Apple is involved in this.
Why you need a screen refresh rate
If you don’t know how to understand that electronics manufacturers are running out of ideas, take a look at the list of new features. It would seem that the fashion high refresh rate screens from 90 to 120 Hz and above started a long time ago, but to this day, almost everyone is obsessed with it. The trick is that each manufacturer interprets it in its own way: for example, it turned out that in the iPhone 13 Pro, the screen refresh rate is adaptive, that is, it works only in certain applications. But this approach helps save battery power.
Unlike Apple, Android smartphone manufacturers allow adjust screen refresh rate in the settings: this is convenient, but the same 120 Hz will work recklessly in all applications, which is why even a powerful battery will not last long. Is there a golden mean in this technology? Yes, and for a long time. And it belongs to Apple.
iPhone screen refresh rate
You have probably heard that Apple is constantly registering new patents for various developments. There are useful – all sorts of features that make life easier like unlocking the Apple Watch by vein pattern, but there are not so much (the camera in the same Apple Watch, iPhone without connectors and other nonsense). After all, in the last 22 years alone, the company has filed over 200 vehicle patents, which is saying a lot.
True, these inventions have been stored somewhere in the archives of Apple Park for many years, but sooner or later they turn out to be very relevant. One of these patents was registered back in 2018 – a display with adaptive hertz for different parts of the screen. That is, conditional 120 Hz will work only where you touch the screen. Perhaps the most effective solution, thanks to which and screen smoothness saved and the battery will not drain quickly.
It looks like the patent has been taken out of the archives and handed over to Samsung for development: they say that the company has already begun work on a new energy-efficient display. Whether the increased refresh rate will work at the touch point is not yet very clear: in any case, a slightly different scenario seems to be more realistic. The display will be divided into three parts, each of which will have its own hertz: for example, one top is 30 Hz, another is 60 Hz, and the bottom is 120 Hz.
According to the patent, there is a possibility that the refresh rate will change in horizontal orientation – this suggests that the entire display module will be rated at 120 Hz, but will be limited by software for more efficient power consumption. It is also likely that a special controller will be responsible for the technology, which will be responsible for refresh rate in different parts of the screen.
How to save batteries on your smartphone
New display from Samsung seems practical from different points of view. For example, this is convenient for most applications in the same One UI, where the middle of the screen is actively used, and the upper part remains static. It will be convenient for the user, because scrolling the list in the browser will really become smooth. Also, not all users need the lower part of the screen: this is the Achilles heel of Apple smartphones, which have a whole strip sticking out from the bottom under the keyboard since the days of the iPhone X.
Besides, adaptive screen frequency could get even better if it could remember the most used part of the display through machine learning. So the increased refresh rate could be used in the exact area of the screen that you most often touch. It is easy to determine this: wipe the display and in daylight take a closer look at where you have the most wiped area on the display – this is exactly where the smartphone could produce 90 or 120 Hz according to the Apple patent.
However, there is no exact data on when the technology will be applied. At its core Samsung technology very reminiscent of an Apple patent, so it is possible that displays will appear in the Samsung Galaxy S23 or iPhone 15, although this could be a great solution to battery life problems in modern smartphones.
