OnePlus unveiled a pair of budget Nord series smartphones – the N10 5G and the N100 – a few weeks ago. Out of the two, the OnePlus N100 was the cheaper phone with diluted specs, which included an HD+ punch-hole display, an entry-level Snapdragon 460 SoC, a rather large 5,000mAh battery, and a triple-lens camera setup highlighted by a 12MP primary camera. Pretty standard package for an affordable phone that costs £179. But OnePlus may have bundled a surprise with its latest budget that flew under the radar – a high refresh rate display.

The folks over at Android Authority discovered 90Hz display refresh rate settings on their retail unit of the OnePlus Nord N100. Earlier, it was assumed that the device shipped with a regular 60Hz refresh rate, while carrying a resolution of 720×1600 pixels and measuring 6.52-inch diagonally. When OnePlus was asked about the presence of a high refresh rate panel on its latest budget phone, the company responded that the OnePlus Nord N100 indeed ships with a 90Hz display.

A sweet 90Hz surprise

“The N100 is equipped with a 90Hz display. Actual refresh rate depends on settings, applications used, and processing limitations,” OnePlus was quoted as saying by Android Authority. However, it is unclear whether OnePlus actually forgot to mention it in the marketing campaign, or if the company simply had a change of mind at a later stage.

As of now, the technical specifications section of the official OnePlus Nord N100 product page does mention a 90Hz refresh rate in the display properties. However, it remains to be seen how well the high-refresh rate panel is optimized to work across apps, especially taking into consideration its low-end hardware.

It appears that OnePlus intentionally abstained from marketing the OnePlus Nord N100’s display as fluidic, simply because it couldn’t perform at the same level as the 90Hz panel on higher-end OnePlus devices such as the OnePlus Nord or the OnePlus 8. But that is just speculation. Whatever be the reason, it is definitely a sweet surprise to see an affordable phone packing a smoother 90Hz panel, despite the slightly underwhelming HD+ resolution.