diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
index bb2e45a..b4d698f 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
@@ -601,6 +601,10 @@
     return mDisplayData[displayId].lastRetireFence;
 }
 
+bool HWComposer::retireFenceRepresentsStartOfScanout() const {
+    return mAdapter ? false : true;
+}
+
 sp<Fence> HWComposer::getLayerReleaseFence(int32_t displayId,
         const std::shared_ptr<HWC2::Layer>& layer) const {
     if (!isValidDisplay(displayId)) {
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
index 41671f6..64c0d1b 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
@@ -122,6 +122,11 @@
     // last call to presentDisplay
     sp<Fence> getRetireFence(int32_t displayId) const;
 
+    // Returns true if the retire fence represents the start of the display
+    // controller's scan out. This should be true for all HWC2 implementations,
+    // except for the wrapper around HWC1 implementations.
+    bool retireFenceRepresentsStartOfScanout() const;
+
     // Get last release fence for the given layer
     sp<Fence> getLayerReleaseFence(int32_t displayId,
             const std::shared_ptr<HWC2::Layer>& layer) const;