Samsung phones have the best screens, but they're set to a lower resolution than they're capable of by default - here's why
- Samsung smartphone screens are set to a lower resolution than they're capable of by default.
- They're preset to 1080p FHD+ rather than 1440p WQHD.
- Samsung explained that the 1080p FHD+ option offers the best balance of screen sharpness and battery life, and that the 1440p WQHD option might have a small impact on battery life.
- I've kept the Galaxy Note 10 Plus to its default screen resolution, and I haven't felt the urge to increase the resolution. 1080p FHD+ is plenty sharp.
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Samsung phones have the best screens in the smartphone business. They're sharp, bright, color-rich, and they come with HDR.
However, the last few Samsung phones I've tried, including the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, are preset to a lower screen resolution than they're capable of out of the box. Indeed, they're set to display Android, apps, and content at 1080p FHD+ resolution by default rather than making the most of the screen's 1440p WQHD resolution.
I always suspected that it had something to do with battery life, and Samsung recently confirmed my suspicion.
The 1080p FHD+ resolution default offers the best balance between screen sharpness and battery life, according to Samsung. Setting a Samsung phone screen to the 1440p WQHD screen will make the phone work a little harder to render the extra pixels on the screen, which will result in a small hit to battery life.
The 1440p WQHD option is there if you value screen sharpness over battery life. With that said, I've kept the Galaxy Note 10 Plus with a massive 6.8-inch display at the default 1080p FHD+ setting, and I can't say I've felt the urge to up the resolution to 1440p WQHD. 1080p FHD+ is plenty sharp.
Changing the resolution to 1440p WQHD for the sharpest image possible on a Samsung phone is easy. You just head to Settings > Display > and tap Screen resolution to set it to the WQHD option.