We’re just a few days away from the international release of the OnePlus 15, but the company is already looking ahead to the future, as rumors are already starting to surface about the OnePlus 16.
According to a post from the reputable OnePlus Club X account, OnePlus is planning to add a 240Hz refresh rate to future OnePlus phones (via PhoneArena). However, this report has been met with mixed reactions from the OnePlus fanbase.
Twice the refresh rate, twice the power needed
The move to higher refresh rates has been one of the unambiguous success stories of the last few years. Going from a 60Hz refresh rate to a 90Hz or even 120Hz refresh rate is a big upgrade, and for many, it’s a change you struggle to come back from. A 60Hz screen just feels slow after you’ve experienced faster.
OnePlus Club has a pretty good record on OnePlus leaks (as you’d expect), so this seems like a pretty solid rumor for the moment. A 240Hz refresh rate isn’t unheard of either, though only obscure phones from Sharp have attempted it so far.
But this should be an absolute win, right? After all, double-up 120Hz and you’ve got a refresh rate that’s twice as smooth. And that’s true — but fans are ringing alarm bells about the downsides of such tech.
One of the major downsides of such tech is the increased power drain. A doubling of refresh rate from 60 to 120Hz means your phone working twice as hard, and that means a bigger power drain. Plus, it’s not clear how useful such a big refresh rate would be, as fairly few apps would be able to use it. Still, a lot of this can be solved with a dynamic refresh rate, which lowers the refresh rate if it isn’t needed and pumps it up when it is.
Other issues include the money spent on the higher refresh rate, and whether it would be more sensible to spend it elsewhere — like on better cameras.
This is who OnePlus is
In fairness to the fans, it would be a more sensible move for OnePlus to focus on the cameras and other elements, rather than the refresh rate. But I’m questioning who these fans think OnePlus is, and whether they’ve actually been paying attention. Because this is very OnePlus.
In many ways, OnePlus is the smartphone version of the Sauron and Spider-man meme. Yes, it could use its money to improve little things — but it would rather do something bombastic and cool. That’s why the higher-end OnePlus 13 models have more RAM than my desktop computer. OnePlus doing something like upping its refresh rate to 240Hz is very OnePlus, and that’s why it’s likely to happen. OnePlus likes big numbers, and it would love having the bragging rights of having the biggest refresh rate around.
