High screen refresh rates have been the hottest industry trend this year. POCO X3, which centered its marketing around the feature, can refresh the screen 120 times every second. But it does so with a dynamic switch enabled which makes the UI lag ever-so-slightly. Folks over at the XDA Developers have found a workaround for locking the refresh rate at a steady 120Hz.
Thanks to double the standard 60Hz rate, Xiaomi POCO X3’s UI feels smoother and gaming more immersive. But there’s a caveat, a high refresh rate is a major battery hog. To conserve its battery life, the phone dynamically steps down the refresh rate depending on what’s being displayed on the screen.
When you’re viewing an image in your gallery app for instance, the phone only needs a single frame to render it, so the phone switches to 50Hz. For video streaming and gaming, it is bumped up to 60Hz and 90Hz. Or if a title supports it, the phone reaches the maximum 120Hz.
But since this switch isn’t seamless, the Poco X3 UI can appear choppy while the rate is being adjusted. Even if you choose the 120Hz option in the settings menu, the dynamic refresh rate feature isn’t disabled. To do so manually, you’ll require some technical finesse and know-how.
First off, your Xiaomi POCO X3 needs to be rooted. To get root access, you have to unlock the bootloader. It’s the first piece of software that runs when you boot up the phone and manufacturers lock it down to prevent the user from making any changes to the OS. You’ll either need to request Xiaomi for the unlocking code or pay a third-party for it. Once you have root privileges, just follow the guide on XDA to lock the screen refresh rate at 120Hz.
Note, however, that your battery life will take a significant hit when the Dynamic Refresh Rate feature is disabled. And your warranty will be voided if you unlock the bootloader. We recommend you use it for short bursts instead of daily driving on a constant 120Hz. For a step-by-step guide on disabling the Dynamic refresh Rate, check out the tutorial on the XDA Forum thread from here.