Key takeaways
- Refresh rate is panel updates per second (60 Hz, 120 Hz).
- You only see the benefit if the device can feed frames and the content is not locked to 24 fps.
- Battery and brightness often trade off with high refresh on phones.
Gadget copy treats “120 Hz” like a moral upgrade. The number is how many times the display can refresh. A movie at 24 frames per second does not become twice as sharp on a 120 Hz panel. Scrolling and games that can output high frame rates can look smoother. The GPU, the game’s cap, and battery saver modes can all ignore the sticker.
Buy for the work you do. A spreadsheet does not need a gaming panel.
