New leak says the Galaxy S20's display will run at 60Hz by default

What you need to know

• A new leak suggests Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S20 series phones will be set to 60Hz refresh rate by default, instead of 120Hz.
• It was recently rumored that the Galaxy S20 series phones might not support 120Hz at the highest Quad HD+ resolution.
• The Galaxy S20 series is set to be announced at Samsung's next Unpacked event on February 11.

Last week, reliable leaker Ice Universe claimed that the Galaxy S20's 120Hz display may only work at Full HD+ resolution. Now, Max Weinbach from XDA Developers has come up with new information that suggests the Galaxy S20 series phones will ship with the display refresh rate set to 60Hz by default.

To enjoy smoother animations and scrolling, users will have to go into Settings and manually change the display refresh rate to 120Hz. While it is certainly a little disappointing, we aren't shocked. The ASUS ROG Phone 2, which has a 120Hz display, ships with the refresh rate set to 60Hz by default. Google's Pixel 4 and OnePlus phones with Fluid AMOLED displays, however, ship with 90Hz enabled by default.

Since many buyers don't care about their phone displays being on the highest resolution or refresh rate, it is possible Samsung may be looking to prioritize battery life over improved smoothness. Prioritizing battery life is also the main reason why the displays on Samsung's current flagship phones default to Full HD+ resolution instead of Quad HD+.

Weinbach has also claimed that the Galaxy S20 Ultra will come with a stainless steel frame instead of aluminum on the standard S20 and S20 Plus. The most premium Galaxy S20 model is also expected to be the only one to feature a 108MP primary camera and a 40MP selfie camera.