Sony’s Xperia Z5 Premium, announced at IFA as the industry’s first smartphone with 4K display, will spend most of its life operating at standard full-HD resolution in order to preserve battery life.

According to a statement from the vendor cited by phoneArena.com, while the device “enables all video and image content to be enjoyed in 4K resolution, all other content is displayed at 1080p or lower resolution in order to optimise the performance and battery stamina for this device”.

This means that developers are unable to write apps which take advantage of the higher resolution, and that for the majority of time users will be using the device in 1080p mode, with only the built-in video and photo apps capable of exploiting the higher resolution.

While the decision is unlikely to bother many users – even a standard HD resolution screen is sharp at smartphone size – it does show the challenges vendors face when attempting to push smartphone specifications even higher. While the number of smartphones with 2K screens is on the increase, a number of vendors have not opted to follow this path yet, with increased power drawn from the screen a significant factor.

Rendering content in 4K full-time would also place a lot of strain on the admittedly beefy Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, leading to potential performance and heat issues.

And the company isn’t the only one to hype a new technology beyond its actual reach. While Huawei stole a march on Apple at IFA 2015 by announcing touch pressure sensing support in its Mate S, this will only be supported by a forthcoming, high-end version of the device, rather than across-the-board.