This year, Apple released 5 iPhones. IPhone SE (2020) earlier this year. IPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro in October. IPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max in November. We have tested all of these smartphones. And one of the common points is the refresh rate of the touch screen: it is set at 60 Hz. This means that the screen of these smartphones refreshes 60 times per second the image it displays.
This is a relatively low number compared to direct competition. Samsung offers 120 Hz panels in the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20. Huawei offers 90 Hz panels with the P40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro. Sony offers a 120 Hz panel in the Xperia 5 II. OnePlus offers 120 Hz with the OnePlus 8T and OnePlus 8 Pro, as well as 90 Hz with the OnePlus 8. And Asus goes up to 144 Hz with the ROG Phone 3 and offers 90 Hz with the ZenFone 7 Pro.
Two iPhones with 120 Hz screens in 2021
Apple is therefore lagging behind on the refresh rate. But that could change next year. According to a rumor relayed by the Korean press, the Cupertino company has decided to integrate new OLED panels with some of its iPhone 13. First change, the refresh rate would go up to 120 Hz and would be variable (as on the ROG Phone 3 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra). This means that the operating system will be able to decrease or increase the refresh rate depending on the content.
Only two of the iPhone 13s would benefit from the improved refresh rate. We believe it should be the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, further justifying the price difference. And we hope that this change will come with an improvement in the battery capacity of these phones, especially the iPhone 13 Pro, because the iPhone 12 Pro is quite disappointing on this point. And a higher refresh rate would consume even more energy. The Korean press finally explains that the tiles will be produced by Samsung Display and LG Display.