OnePlus Announces Partnership With Epic Games; Fortnite Now Runs at 90FPS on OnePlus 8 Series

OnePlus has announced a partnership with Epic Games to customise Fortnite gaming experience on OnePlus smartphones with 90Hz displays. As per the press release by the Chinese smartphone maker, the OnePlus 8 series will be the first to run Fortnite at 90FPS. Notably, the game runs at 60FPS on consoles like the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One X. Additionally, Fortnite will be downloadable via the Game Space app on OnePlus 6 and newer phones, however, all these phones except the OnePlus 8 series will still run the game at the standard 60FPS.

Pete Lau, founder and CEO of OnePlus said, “OnePlus and Epic Games have created one of the best Fortnite experiences ever on a smartphone. The OnePlus 8 Series delivers a smooth, high framerate Fortnite gameplay experience – that even current generation console game systems can't match.” The Xbox One X and the PlayStation 4 currently run the game at 60FPS, and so do most other Android and iOS phones. Of course, the comparison with consoles doesn't entirely make sense, as the level of visual detail, and the overall experience is completely different, much like the way comparing smartphone cameras to DSLRs doesn't actually work.

With this partnership between OnePlus and Epic Games, OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will be the first phones to run the game at a faster and smoother 90FPS. To recall, the OnePlus 8, like its predecessor, comes with a 90Hz refresh rate screen while the OnePlus 8 Pro comes with a 120Hz refresh rate screen.

The announcement by OnePlus also states that OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T, and OnePlus 7T Pro will play Fortnite at 60FPS adding, “OnePlus is committed to bringing the best mobile gaming experiences to its users and is continuously taking steps to bring major firsts to the category.” This suggests that these phones that do have 90Hz refresh rate displays may be able to play the game at the higher native refresh rate sometime in the future. Additionally, the game will be easily downloadable from the Game Space app on OnePlus 6 and newer phones, which is an alternative to downloading the game from the Play Store.

According to a report by GameSpot, when running the game on the OnePlus 8 at 90Hz, the overall graphics settings will be automatically switched to ‘Low'. The OnePlus 8 is capable of running Fortnite at the highest ‘Epic' settings at 60FPS but it seems to get the higher frame rate, the settings will need to be dropped all the way down to ‘Low'. The report also states that this is an exclusive 90 FPS build of Fortnite for the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro will run the game at the same high refresh rate, but at a higher resolution.

What does 90FPS gaming mean?

FPS or Frames Per Second, to put it simply, is a measure of how smooth a game feels. A phone with a 60Hz refresh rate screen will be able to deliver a maximum of 60FPS in games. Phones with higher refresh rate screens will be able to play at higher FPS if the game supports it.

Just like navigating through the UI of a 60Hz refresh rate phone vs navigating the UI of a 90Hz refresh rate phone, the difference can be quite noticeable. The animations feel smoother, scrolling seems faster, and the phone feels more responsive overall.

Is Redmi Note 9 Pro Max the best affordable camera phone in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.