iQOO and Samsung Unveil the World’s First 2K 165Hz Smartphone Display for the iQOO 16

Following last week’s design reveal, iQOO has officially pulled the curtain back on the iQOO 16 crowning feature: its display. During today’s joint Samsung Display × iQOO screen technology event, the company confirmed that its upcoming flagship will be the world’s first smartphone equipped with a 2K resolution panel boasting a 165Hz refresh rate.

This display represents a significant leap forward, utilizing Samsung’s new 2K LEAD 2.0 technology, co-developed by the two tech giants.

A Deeper Partnership with Samsung

The collaboration extends beyond simply sourcing a screen. The iQOO 16 will be the first Android smartphone to feature Samsung’s latest M16 luminescent material—a detail initially rumored in August leaks. To support this advanced hardware, the companies engineered a custom high-refresh-rate integrated circuit (IC) and established a dedicated production line exclusively for iQOO’s flagship lineup.

Unprecedented Brightness and Color Accuracy

iQOO is pushing the boundaries of mobile display brightness and color fidelity. The new panel supports a manual peak brightness of 1,100 nits, a global peak of 2,800 nits, and a staggering local peak brightness of up to 10,000 nits.

On the color front, the display delivers 1.24 times P3 color gamut coverage. Utilizing a proprietary color and brightness compensation algorithm, iQOO conducts screen-by-screen calibration at the sub-pixel level. This rigorous process yields a claimed color accuracy of ±0.001, building on the foundation laid by the iQOO 15’s original LEAD OLED panel. Compared to its predecessor, color and brightness uniformity have improved by 39.6% and 22.3%, respectively.

Built for Elite Gaming Performance

Targeting mobile gamers, the iQOO 16 display boasts a 100% first-frame brightness ratio, which the company claims is an industry best. Responsiveness is supercharged by a new touch chip capable of 5,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling and 500Hz multi-finger sampling. Additionally, iQOO’s proprietary Q-flex control technology works to drastically minimize input latency between a physical touch and on-screen action.

To reduce eye strain during extended sessions, the panel includes three-photosensitive full-area light sensing, an unpolarized natural light display, full-brightness DC dimming, PWM dimming up to 3,300Hz, and a dedicated gaming glare protection mode.