OnePlus has just released more details about the OnePlus 13 display as part of an event in China with display supplier BOE. Both companies have made a number of statements regarding the phone’s display, but one interesting feature caught our attention and we hope competing brands adopt it.

OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 13 display supports a local high refresh rate feature. That is, different areas of the same screen can operate at different refresh rates.

This is a major improvement over current smartphone screens. Other phone screens may operate at different refresh rates, but the refresh rate applies to the entire screen. So why would you want to vary refresh rates for different parts of the screen?

Why is this OnePlus 13 feature so important?

Being able to run only the necessary areas of the screen at a higher refresh rate would allow for more juice, since a high refresh rate uses more power. This can be handy if you’re watching a YouTube video, with the UI/comments running at a low frame rate while the video itself runs at a higher frame rate. This can also be useful if you are reading an article in a browser, with the web page offering a higher refresh rate for smoother scrolling while the browser toolbar runs at a lower refresh rate.

A local high refresh rate feature could be particularly useful for running apps in a split-screen view. So if you read a Kindle book in one window and browse the web in the other window, the Kindle window may run at a much lower refresh rate (e.g. 1Hz, 10Hz) while the browser window runs at 60 or 120 Hz. Currently, apps running in split-screen must run at the same refresh rate, which can consume more power.

This isn’t the only new screen feature on the OnePlus 13, as the company also claimed that this screen is what’s called a “sunscreen.” The Chinese brand said that the OnePlus 13 display offers more accurate colors and better visibility under the sun compared to competing devices.

Still, the phone’s local refresh rate feature could be a sign of things to come in 2025 if it delivers a lot of power savings. This would be especially handy on Fold-style foldables due to the emphasis on split-screen multitasking. In fact, Samsung first patented this technology in 2022, so don’t be surprised if a future Galaxy phone offers it.