After the Unpacked event a few days ago, Samsung quietly changed the display specs of the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus in its press release and product page. A change in refresh rate was observed on the cheaper Galaxy S22 version and was quickly pointed out online.
The Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus do not support the dynamic refresh rate of 10-120Hz as mentioned earlier. Instead, the refresh rate can only drop to 48Hz, although it can still go up to 120Hz.
Samsung finally came out today, admitting to mislabeling its original Galaxy S22 display specification statement, however, Samsung has not apologized for the practice.
A lower refresh rate lower limit has a certain meaning for battery life because a screen with a high refresh rate consumes more energy than a screen running at a low refresh rate. In scenarios where a high refresh rate is not necessary.
The phone screen will automatically adjust to save power, which is why it is so important to have a high refresh rate screen with the lowest possible refresh rate limit.
Samsung has no problem improving the Galaxy S22 display specs this year, and the cheaper Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus models can still support refresh rates up to 120Hz, which should result in a smoother overall experience, especially when browsing and gaming.
However, Samsung inflated the refresh rate of the Galaxy S22 phones. According to the initial announcement, the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus will support 10-120Hz refresh rates. It’s a clear display spec upgrade over last year’s model.
After it became known that Samsung changed the refresh rate of the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus, the South Korean company released a statement explaining the practice:
The display refresh rate was originally listed as between 10 and 120Hz (10 to 120 frames per second), we have since opted to update the way we communicate this specification to align with more widely recognized industry standards. Consumers can rest assured that the hardware specs have not changed, and both devices support ultra-smooth scrolling up to 120Hz.
Samsung made it sound like it didn’t do anything wrong, but that still doesn’t make sense anyhow explaining the changes to the Galaxy S22’s display specs. Samsung also said its “proprietary technology” feeds data to the display at a lower rate. That’s where the 10Hz refresh rate comes in. But the screen itself can only refresh at a minimum of 48Hz (except on the Ultra models), regardless of what the proprietary technology might do.
Although when it comes to smartphone display specs, usually no one cares about minimum refresh rates. However, in terms of product promotion and performance claims, the issue of principle still exists. Samsung misled Galaxy S22 buyers and then tried to minimize the impact of the mistake.