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Netflix has yet again updated its list of HDR-compatible smartphones, bringing the total to 10 devices. This time around, the Sony Xperia XZ2, Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Huawei P20 get added to the list. All of these are new flagship devices from Sony and Huawei respectively, that do support HDR natively, so it’s good to see that Netflix has added support for these in its app. There are a number of HDR titles available on Netflix already, and the streaming giant is quickly adding more and more titles to that list.
With HDR support, you’ll be able to get richer colors from the content you are watching. This isn’t going to be something that is immediately noticeable, especially for titles that have darker backgrounds and such. But you should still get some great pictures out of this. Combined with 4K, you’re going to get some great video out of these devices on Netflix. Now while these three smartphones do not sport 4K resolution displays, Netflix will downscale the content to fit the displays on these devices. So while it’ll be downscaled to 1080p, it’s still going to look pretty great. Netflix has been making a huge amount of original content in the past few years, and all of this content is being shot in 4K HDR, with very few exceptions, so it’s definitely a good thing to see more devices getting HDR support from Netflix.
While the list of HDR-compatible devices for Netflix is growing, Dolby Atmos-compatible devices is still stuck with just the LG G6 from last year. A bit surprising, considering the Razer Phone does have Dolby Atmos speakers, and has HDR support from Netflix but not Dolby Atmos. This shows that picture quality is likely a bigger deal for many smartphone makers as well as Netflix. It’s something that Netflix is marketing as well, so there’s no surprise that it wants to get as many devices on that HDR list as possible. To be able to enjoy HDR content from Netflix, you will need to sign up for its 4K plan, which will cost you $13.99 per month. That’s almost double what the entry-level plan is – which is stuck at 480p. But it’s definitely worth the upgrade.