Galaxy S22 & S22+ Refresh Rates Not As Adaptive As First Promised
Samsung has quietly updated the specifications sheet of the Galaxy S22 and its Plus variant, which now says that the lowest refresh rate that their screens can hit is 48Hz, not 10Hz that the company initially advertised. The refresh rate numbers matter, as they not only affect the content viewing experience but also play a vital role in the battery life. When a screen drops its refresh rate to a minimum for less demanding tasks like reading text and cranks it all the way up to 120Hz for scenarios like gaming, the battery consumption is somewhat balanced.
On the contrary, if the screen refresh rate is permanently locked to 90Hz or 120Hz, it proves to be quite taxing on battery life. However, the smartphone industry has recently started embracing the Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO) display tech that allows variable refresh rate adjustment. Take, for example, the iPhone 13 Pro, which comes equipped with an LTPO OLED panel and varies the refresh rate between 120Hz and 10Hz based on the usage scenario. Samsung promised something similar for the Galaxy S22, but that appears to have been erroneous marketing.
Samsung has quietly tweaked the specifications sheet of the Galaxy S22 and its Plus variant, which now lists the screen refresh rate range as 48-120Hz. That means the lowest refresh rate it can hit is 48Hz, which is not much lower than the standard 60Hz refresh rate screen on most phones out there. The specifications sheet originally touted a minimum refresh rate value of 10Hz, matching the iPhone 13 Pro. In comparison, the Galaxy S22 Ultra features an LTPO panel whose refresh rate value varies between 1Hz and 120Hz, thanks to dynamic adjustment.
With the sneaky correction on the specifications sheet, it has also become clear that the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ come armed with low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) panel that does reach a 120Hz refresh rate but doesn't offer the variable refresh rate adjustment feature. With that, it has also become evident that the underlying display tech on the vanilla Galaxy S22 remains the same as its predecessor, save for a higher brightness output. The only other meaningful upgrade is the application of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on the screen for protection.
The absence of an LTPO panel is not much of a dealbreaker since the OLED screen's quality is terrific, and it can still hit the 120Hz refresh rate mark to offer a fluid visual experience. However, the loss of an automatic refresh rate adjustment system is not very forgiving on the battery life, especially for a phone like the Galaxy S22 that packs a relatively small 3,700 mAh battery. It also doesn't help that the Galaxy S22 is powered by a beefy top-of-the-line chip and only supports 25W fast charging. The Galaxy S22 Plus, on the other hand, goes up to 45W when topped up using Samsung's 45W power adapter that it sells separately.
Sources: Samsung Newsroom (Archived), Samsung