Rumors have been circulating for months that this will likely lastly be the yr Apple brings its complete iPhone lineup to the identical high-refresh show customary. By all experiences, the iPhone 17 and the brand new “iPhone 17 Air” are anticipated to achieve 120 Hz screens, just like these used on Apple’s higher-end iPhone Professional fashions since 2021.
Sadly, we’ve heard this track earlier than. Almost yearly some analyst or leaker has claimed to have proof that the usual iPhone fashions will achieve 120 Hz “ProMotion” show know-how. In truth, the rumors started swirling two months earlier than the iPhone 13 Professional lineup gained ProMotion in 2021, with experiences suggesting Apple would deliver the higher-refresh show to the complete iPhone 14 lineup.
We all know that didn’t occur, however it additionally didn’t cease pundits from making related predictions concerning the iPhone 15 in 2023 and final yr’s iPhone 16. It’s potential Apple might have thought of a 120 Hz improve annually and dismissed it, very similar to it did with the iPhone 12 Professional in 2020. Nevertheless, that was canceled as a result of pandemic-related supply-chain issues — a problem that shouldn’t have been an element by 2022.
A few of that is additionally fuelled by wishful considering and a perception that Apple can’t probably be okay with letting the iPhone lag to this point behind its rivals relating to show know-how. Even when Apple had met its aim of bringing 120 Hz ProMotion know-how to the iPhone 12 Professional in 2020, it was already behind the curve. Android handset makers started including higher-refresh shows way back to 2017, though they remained considerably area of interest till Google’s Pixel 4 introduced them into the mainstream in 2019.
It’s additionally not like Apple hadn’t already discovered how you can construct quicker shows. The iPad Professional famously gained Apple’s first ProMotion show in 2017, and these have been a secure of these flagship iPad fashions ever since. Initially, quicker shows have been largely restricted to flagship Android telephones; nevertheless, by the point Apple received round to bringing ProMotion to the iPhone 13 Professional, they’d begun trickling right down to finances flagships and even entry-level fashions.
Whilst Samsung and Google introduced 90 Hz and 120 Hz shows to their A-series telephones, Apple stubbornly held the usual iPhone fashions to 60 Hz shows. It’s not stunning that everybody within the trade assumed that quicker shows have been proper across the nook, however they by no means materialized.
However, this yr, the rumors may lastly be on monitor. Firstly, we’ve heard experiences from extra dependable sources than the same old nameless leakers. For instance, Ross Younger, an analyst whose complete world revolves round what the show trade is doing, revealed in September that 120 Hz shows have been coming to all iPhone 17 fashions.
Along with extra dependable sources, the arrival of a brand new “iPhone 17 Air” additionally offers Apple one more reason to lastly make the transfer. The consensus is that Apple will exchange the “Plus” iPhone mannequin with one thing utterly totally different: an ultra-svelte “minimalist” iPhone that can lower a number of corners, similar to twin cameras to turn out to be as skinny as potential, however might want to compensate for that by including a number of extra perks, like a 120 Hz display screen.
Will the iPhone 17 Get the Identical Show because the iPhone 17 Professional?
The quite a few experiences that the iPhone 17 and “iPhone 17 Air” will get 120 Hz shows have overlooked some important particulars. Not one of the extra dependable sources have mentioned a lot past the brand new screens providing a 120 Hz variable refresh charge, however that doesn’t imply they’ll have the identical capabilities because the iPhone Professional fashions. They could not even be “ProMotion” by Apple’s definition of the time period.
Leaker Mounted Focus Digital, greatest identified for revealing Apple’s shock swap to the iPhone 16e identify earlier than it launched, shared on Weibo at present that machine-translates to a press release that the iPhone 17 collection will get “only a regular 120hz display screen, however not ProMotion adaptive refresh charge.”
Because the iPhone 14 Professional, Apple has used shows that may not solely attain as much as 120 Hz heights but additionally scale right down to 1 Hz on the backside finish. This decrease refresh charge permits the iPhone to preserve energy when doing issues that don’t require larger refresh charges, and for that cause, it’s additionally essential to help an always-on show.
For instance, most movies play at 24 or 30 frames per second, which suggests you solely want a 24 Hz or 30 Hz refresh charge to get pleasure from them. A display screen with a set 60 Hz refresh charge wastes energy by updating the display screen 2–2.5 occasions extra usually than wanted.
Whereas the iPhone 13 Professional was the primary to characteristic a ProMotion show, it bottomed out at 10 Hz. This nonetheless allowed these fashions to supply dramatically improved battery life for video over the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, however it wasn’t gradual sufficient to energy an always-on show.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air might nonetheless get a variable refresh charge show that goes as much as 120 Hz, however there’s no phrase on how far down it’ll go. Younger and others have hinted at true variable refresh charges in saying that Apple plans to make use of LTPO shows for the iPhone 17 and “iPhone 17 Air.” These panels sometimes present absolutely dynamic refresh charges. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply that they’ll have the identical vary.
As an illustration, Apple may re-use the show tech from the iPhone 13 Professional period, an LTPO panel with a ten–120Hz vary; nevertheless, “variable” can also be obscure. Many midrange telephones, together with Samsung’s Galaxy A-series fashions and even the Google Pixel 9a, solely swap between fastened refresh charges, like 30 Hz, 60 Hz, and 120 Hz, moderately than operating the entire spectrum in between. Nevertheless, these additionally use LTPS shows, not LTPO.
These fastened refresh charges would seemingly be greater than sufficient for most traditional iPhone customers, however they’d fall wanting what the iPhone Professional fashions provide. It wouldn’t be stunning to see Apple take this route — actually, it might be extra stunning if the corporate didn’t proceed to set its Professional fashions aside by giving them considerably higher screens. In spite of everything, it’s proper there within the identify: “ProMotion” shows are for “Professional” units: the iPad Professional, the iPhone Professional, and the MacBook Professional.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]