Pixel 7 Pro’s display driver can surface hidden Android 13 setting

Google teased the Pixel 7 series at this year’s I/O event, much to the surprise of practically everyone. That hasn’t been enough to stem the flow of leaks though, as we’ve already seen a handful of prototypes enter the hands of consumers, and we’ve already heard that the display will basically be the same as the Pixel 6 series. Now a developer has been able to use the Pixel 7 Pro‘s display driver on the Pixel 6 Pro and using it surfaces the ability to change the display resolution.

By using the Pixel 7 Pro’s display driver on the Pixel 6 Pro, Android 13’s screen resolution setting becomes available, and the resolution can be changed to 1080p.

Video credits: @TheLunarixus pic.twitter.com/Ho5jPfrbOd

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) June 2, 2022

The meaning of this is two-fold and points to some of what we can expect from the Pixel 7 Pro. The first is that if the driver is interoperable, it suggests that the earlier report of the displays being similar is correct. Furthermore, it means that the Pixel 7 Pro has a 1440p display and that it will be possible to change the resolution to 1080p. This is currently not possible on the Pixel 6 Pro. Given that it also works, it’s possible that this resolution switcher may be back-ported to the Google Pixel 6 Pro with the Android 13 update.

The developer has also affirmed that this is an actual resolution change and not just a scaled resolution set via adb or through other means.

Just to add onto the news about the Pixel 7 Pro display driver running on the Pixel 6, this isn’t a scaled resolution like setting wm size, it’s an actual resolution defined in the driver with custom timings, along with 1080p it also adds 1080p30Hz support too, not sure why.

— Nathan (@TheLunarixus) June 2, 2022

As to why you’d want to change the resolution, it depends. The most impact dropping the resolution will have is in the likes of gaming, where a game will become much easier to run on a lower resolution. You may find that you can achieve much more consistent frame rates when dropping it down to 1080p. We don’t know anything about Google Tensor 2 yet, so it’s unclear how beneficial dropping the resolution may be to the successor.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for any more developments in the future that may benefit Pixel 6 series users and future Pixel 7 series users!