Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
When you read a review of a smartphone, you will usually be hit with a long list of screen specs: the display type, its dimensions and aspect ratio, its resolution in pixels, its HDR support (or lack of it), and its brightness, for example. Too often, it’s assumed that everyone understands the significance of each of these specs.
So in this article, we’re going to focus on the basics of the refresh rate, which you’ll see in the specs of monitors and TVs as well. It tells you how many times the display is refreshed per second, typically measured in Hz (hertz). In other words, a 90Hz display refreshes itself 90 times a second. Here’s what you need to know about the spec and how to make sure the maximum refresh rate is enabled on your…