OnePlus 15: an OLED 165 Hz display made by BOE, a world-first on smartphone
The OnePlus 15 is set to make waves. With just weeks to go before its official launch in China, the brand has kicked off its teasing campaign and revealed what is likely to be the main highlight of its upcoming flagship: its display.
OnePlus 15: A BOE X3 OLED Display at 165 Hz – A First for Mobile
The OnePlus 15 will feature a BOE X3 OLED panel with a 1.5K resolution and an impressive refresh rate of 165 Hz, marking a first for OLED smartphones. OnePlus claims to have optimized various games to fully utilize this extreme refresh rate, promising unparalleled fluidity.
However, this technical choice has raised some questions: why not offer a 2K display like most premium flagships?
“It’s not a matter of cost, but of physics,” OnePlus explains.
On Weibo, Li Jie, president of OnePlus China, provided clarification. According to him, no display manufacturer has yet succeeded in producing a 2K OLED panel that maintains a 165 Hz refresh rate. “We chose 165 Hz primarily for visual performance, but today, the 2K technology at that rate simply does not exist.”
Furthermore, contrary to some assumptions, this is not a budget-saving measure; the new BOE X3 display is more expensive to produce than the X2 panel of the OnePlus 13.
An Engineering Marvel
Li Jie also explained why most smartphones are limited to 120 Hz: the technical constraints increase significantly beyond that point.
These challenges include:
- Long pixel charging times,
- Control chips unable to manage the data flow,
- Synchronization issues between touch response and display,
- Image instability due to rapid switching,
- And reduced panel lifespan due to increased pixel activity.
To overcome these hurdles, OnePlus and BOE completely reimagined the screen’s design, from the hardware circuitry to the control algorithms. The result: a pixel charging time reduced to 1.3 microseconds and a display chip featuring 1.3 times more transistors to maintain a stable 165 Hz without loss of performance.
