Since the iPhone 13 Pro models, the iPhone Pro models have featured LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) displays for adaptive and variable refresh rates. The iPhone 13 Pro models brought ProMotion technology to the iPhone for the first time, which offers up to 120Hz refresh rates depending on what’s showing on the screen. The iPhone 14 Pro models featured refresh rates as low as 1Hz to allow the always-on capability on their displays.
The standard iPhone models have stuck with 60Hz displays since the original iPhone as the ProMotion/always-on displays have remained exclusive to the Pro models. Even to this day, those models have been heavily criticized for the lack of higher refresh rates whereas several other Android competitors have had displays with refresh rates of at least 90Hz. If you take a look at the current iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, they use LTPS (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) displays that lack both of those capabilities.
We’ve thought that ProMotion/always-on displays will remain exclusive to the flagship Pro models for the foreseeable future. However, a report from The Elec seems to prove otherwise. The source indicates that the upcoming standard iPhone 17 and 17 Plus models will incorporate more advanced LTPO displays that will allow variable refresh rates as Apple has been looking for other suppliers to produce more LTPO panels for its future iPhone models.
However, it should be worth noting that Apple could disable either the always-on capability or the ProMotion technology on its future iPhone 17 through software to set those models apart from the higher-end iPhone 17 Pro. We’ve seen Apple keeping several features exclusive to its higher-end Pro models before to encourage customers to pay more for those features such as taking ProRAW photos, recording ProRes videos, and so on.
Display analyst Ross Young also reported that this year’s iPhone 16 Pro models would feature taller displays with an aspect ratio of 19.6:9, and that aspect ratio will trickle down to the standard iPhone 17 models. Therefore, we can expect the iPhone 17 models to feature taller displays at 6.3- and 6.9 inches.
For those who have been waiting for Apple to release a standard iPhone model with higher refresh rates but don’t want to spend the extra cash on the Pro models, the upcoming iPhone 17 will surely fit the bill for them terrifically.
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