The company’s final addition to the Pixel 7 series of smartphones, the Pixel 7a, which was released last month, may have a feature that lowers the screen refresh rate when the device is in direct sunlight. Recently, a Pixel user detailed how their device automatically changes the refresh rate of the display when in direct sunlight and when it is in the shade, indicating that the functionality is deliberate. However, users can enable a specific hidden setting on their phone to force their Pixel 7a to always use the peak refresh rate.
When using the phone in direct sunlight, the Pixel 7a’s screen refresh rate drops from 90Hz to 60Hz, according to a Reddit post by user u/pawlikx_iron. The user reported that the peak refresh rate is automatically restored when the phone is placed back in a room without sunlight.
According to the comments, thermal throttling, which reduces CPU speeds when a chip’s temperature is too high, does not seem to be the root cause. The Tensor G2 chip, which powers the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, may be slightly different in the Pixel 7a, which could result in less performance when compared to Google’s flagship chipset.
According to a commit in Google’s open-source code for the Pixel 7a that is intended to lock the refresh rate of the phone at 60Hz when the ambient brightness is higher than 50,000 lux, Esper’s Mishaal Rahman claims that the decrease in the Pixel 7a’s display refresh rate is intentional. The same features ought to be available on other Pixel phones as well, he continued.
Users who want to get around this feature on the Pixel 7a can use a workaround mentioned in the comments to make the phone’s display refresh at 90Hz all the time. By tapping on Settings > About phone > Build number, the hidden developer options menu can be made accessible.
Users can set the display’s refresh rate to 90Hz permanently by opening the settings app, selecting Developer options > Force peak refresh rate, and then tapping OK. As the smartphone won’t be optimizing the refresh rate for optimal power consumption, turning on this feature could result in a greater battery drain.
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