Ugly AI motion smoothing on Xiaomi phone and How to get rid of it

Understanding and Resolving Unwanted AI Motion Smoothing on Xiaomi POCO F5 Devices

Introduction

Smartphone screens have become a primary medium for consuming visual content, from videos to gaming. However, sometimes the viewing experience is marred by undesirable visual effects, such as artificial motion smoothing. Recently, many users have reported an unsettling and distracting motion enhancement feature appearing unexpectedly on their Xiaomi POCO F5 smartphones running MIUI 14.0.9. This article aims to shed light on this issue, explain what might be causing it, and explore potential solutions to restore optimal display quality.

Recognizing the Problem

The issue manifests as an unnatural, overly smooth motion effect that resembles the “soap opera” or “cinematic” filters seen on certain TVs. During ordinary viewing—whether watching YouTube videos, playing games, or browsing local media files—users notice a peculiar interpolation or “warping” of movement, which diminishes visual clarity and reduces the viewing enjoyment.

Notably, this motion smoothing is not restricted to streaming platforms like YouTube; it also appears on local video files, GIFs, and other applications, indicating that the effect is applied system-wide across the device rather than being source-specific.

Initial Troubleshooting Attempts

Many users, including those experiencing this issue, have tried conventional solutions such as:

• Disabling MIUI optimizations
• Turning off animations
• Changing display refresh rates

However, these steps often fail to eliminate the unwanted motion smoothing, suggesting that the root cause may be related to newer software updates or system-level settings introduced in recent MIUI versions.

Potential Causes

While Xiaomi hasn’t officially acknowledged this specific behavior, the phenomenon may be linked to recent AI-driven enhancement features integrated into MIUI, designed to improve media playback or optimize user experience. Sometimes, firmware updates introduce or activate such features without explicit user consent, leading to unpredictable visual effects.

Handling the Problem

Given the difficulty in resolving this issue through standard settings adjustments, users might consider the following approaches:

1. Check Display Settings

2. Navigate to Settings > Display

3. Look for any options related to motion smoothing, video enhancement, or AI features and disable them if available.

4. Update Firmware and Apps

5. Ensure your device is running the latest MIUI version as updates might contain bug fixes related to display features.

6. Update all media-related apps to their latest versions.

7. Reset Display Settings

8. Resetting display preferences can sometimes remove unintended effects brought