Asus ROG Phone 3 has a secret refresh rate of 160Hz that can be unlocked with the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) command-line tool. Launched in India last week, the flagship gaming phone comes with a 144Hz refresh rate on paper. The Taiwanese tech giant has also confirmed the existence of the advanced refresh rate option, which it says is intended for internal testing only and not for end-users. However, the phone’s display has not been calibrated to accommodate a refresh rate of 160Hz.

XDA Developers I found the hidden 160Hz upgrade option, sharing steps on how to unlock it. It says that the mode can only be activated using the ADB PC application. Once there, the user needs to run a command from a prompt or terminal window, “adb shell setprop debug.vendor.asus.fps.eng 1.” After this, when the phone is restarted, the 160Hz refresh rate option should start to appear in the display settings.

The report also noted that this mode is not finished and that the screen has not been calibrated to fit. Essentially it means you can use the screen at 160Hz, but you may not get the smoothness you want to achieve.

Asus confirmed the development, and he said to Engadget”The 160Hz refresh rate is for our internal testing only and ASUS has not included this part of the device’s official specifications.” The phone will be available for purchase from August 6 in India.

Asus ROG Phone 3 Specifications

The Asus ROG Phone 3 has a 6.59-inch full-HD + AMOLED AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080×2,340 pixels, 19.5: 9 aspect ratio, 144Hz refresh rate, and HDR10 + support. The screen is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 6 2.5D and has a TUV Low Blue Light solution to protect the eyes. The phone has an in-display fingerprint sensor and ultrasonic sensors for the AirTrigger 3 and grip press functions. The phone runs on Android 10 with ROG UI on top.

The smartphone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ mobile platform and is coupled with Adreno 650 GPUs, up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 256GB of integrated UFS 3.1 storage. The ROG Phone 3 has three rear cameras that include a 64-megapixel primary sensor, a 13-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a third 5-megapixel macro camera. Customers get a 24-megapixel selfie camera. In addition, the phone has two speakers with ROG GameFX technology and Dirac HD Sound. It houses a 6,000mAh battery with 30W fast charge support.