For the longest time, Smartphone users have been limited to watching YouTube videos in quality limited to the resolution of their smartphone screen itself. That is now set to change.

If a report by the lads over at XDA, is something to go by, users will now watch videos on the YouTube Android app with resolutions as high as 4K (2160p60) even on phones that have 720p displays.

Interestingly on the new FHD+ Oppo Reno5, I can now play videos at full 4K resolution. Previously, I would have been limited to 1080p.

But why would anyone want to watch 4K on a 720p display? Well, for heavy users who consume a lot of onscreen time watching videos on their phones will appreciate the significantly better video quality due to compression.

While a 1080p video on YouTube can look very good, due to YouTube’s compression, more often than not you’re actually getting nothing near 1080p.

So even if your display doesn’t support 4K, you’ll often find playing a YouTube video at a resolution one or two tiers above your screen’s native resolution will provide a noticeably sharper image.

If you use data for YouTube though, you will have to be very wary of your usage.