Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Google Pixel 10 rumors are coming thick and fast these days as we close in on the launch date in just a few months. Last week, we learned the upcoming phone’s Pro models will likely ship with a 480Hz PWM display — a first for the Pixel series.
High PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) rates aren’t new to smartphone displays; we’ve already seen phones boasting thousands of Hz. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra offers a 1,920Hz PWM rate, the OnePlus 13 clocks in at 2,160Hz, and the HONOR Magic 7 Pro tops out at a whopping 4,320Hz PWM. Even the budget-friendly Nothing Phone 3a manages 2,160Hz PWM.
Is high display PWM important when buying a phone? 168 votes Yes, I want high PWM. 30 % No, it doesn't matter. 23 % It matters, but it's not the deciding factor. 27 % Not sure, I'd never thought about it. 20 %
The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL won’t match these heavyweights, but a bump to 480Hz will at least put them on par with the brand’s closest rivals in the US, Apple and Samsung. In that sense, it’s a significant move — but what does all this PWM stuff even mean, and should you actually care?
What does PWM have to do with displays?
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
If you know a bit about displays, you’ve likely come across Hz and refresh rate, which measures how many times per second (in Hz) the screen updates. 120Hz looks smoother than 60Hz, for example. PWM is also measured in Hz, but it’s unrelated to how quickly your content refreshes. Instead, the PWM rate controls the brightness of the thousands of individual LEDs lighting up your fancy OLED display.
Going back to some basic electronics: applying 0 V turns an LED off, while applying the maximum allowed voltage makes it shine at full brightness. There are two ways to achieve a brightness that isn’t zero or full. The most intuitive is to scale the voltage somewhere between off and max.
However, this isn’t always practical for mobile displays, due to the LEDs’ temperamental on-threshold voltage, the wasted power from maintaining an intermediate DC level, and the complexity of managing precise voltages across millions of sub-pixels. This isn’t a problem for older LCD-type displays, where direct current dimming can easily control the entire backlight in one go.
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