OnePlus has been hinting at a significant display improvement for the OnePlus 16 for several weeks, and the company has now confirmed one of the feature’s main details. Li Jie, President of OnePlus China, revealed that the OnePlus 16 will be the first smartphone to run ColorOS 17 and will also feature what OnePlus describes as a “global 165Hz ultra high refresh rate.”
The announcement lines up with details previously shared by tipster Digital Chat Station, who has been discussing the feature since last month. Unlike the OnePlus 15, the upcoming model is expected to make 165Hz available throughout the system and across regular applications rather than restricting the higher refresh rate to a limited selection of games and apps.
Digital Chat Station has also provided a preview of the settings interface for the feature. The 165Hz option reportedly appears directly within the standard display settings, meaning users should not have to enter Developer Options to activate it.
OnePlus 16 may bring 165Hz support to more applications
According to the leak, the OnePlus 16 will feature new Oriental Screen X4 display material alongside redesigned circuitry. These hardware changes are reportedly what allow the phone to support a global 165Hz refresh rate at the hardware level.
Initial testing is said to have shown the 165Hz mode working in system applications as well as apps installed through the Play Store. If accurate, this would give the feature considerably broader usefulness instead of restricting it to a handful of specially supported applications.
The OnePlus 15 already arrived with a 165Hz display, but its implementation came with an important restriction. Apart from a limited selection of compatible games, the screen typically operated at a maximum of 120Hz.
OnePlus eventually introduced 165Hz support for applications including WhatsApp, Instagram and X through a software update. However, activating the feature required users to access Developer Options. There was another drawback as well, since enabling the mode forced the display to remain at 165Hz rather than dynamically reducing the refresh rate when little activity was taking place. As a result, the OnePlus 15 did not provide a genuinely system wide 165Hz experience.
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