Android users, your days of comparing the iPhone to Android devices spec-by-spec are numbered. Once Apple adopts a higher refresh rate for its first-tier iPhone, it’s over for anyone still playing Bragging Rights Bingo.
We are a day away from the start of a new year, typically when “the next iPhone” rumors start popping off. The one percolating currently has roots as far back as September and claims the iPhone 17 will have a screen with a higher refresh rate compared to iPhones past.
Apple has used ProMotion, or 120Hz, displays since the iPhone 13 Pro. Since then, only the Pro models have offered a variation of ProMotion, with the iPhone 15 Pro being the first to adopt the always-on display. According to a leak on the Chinese social network Weibo, starting in 2025, all iPhone models will claim ProMotion screens, no longer limiting them to the higher-priced variant.
The leak comes from a previously cited leaker, Digital Chat Station, which also started the rumor that the iPhone 17 Pro would get a backside redesign. We’ll see about that. This rumor is taking off because we heard it from display analyst Ross Young. The literal supply chain offers the best glimpse at what’s to come.
Apple is starting to pack more Pro-level features into its first-tier iPhone. This year, it surprised us by including the Camera Control button on all iPhone 16 models. Apple typically launches new features, like the Dynamic Island, for Pro users first. The company even made Apple Intelligence available to those who choose the $800 two-camera iPhone 16 over the three-camera $1,000 iPhone 16 Pro. This is why the rumor makes sense. The iPhone 17’s adoption of a higher refresh rate would follow suit in this practice.
If Apple adopts ProMotion across the board, that could be a boon for whatever is going on with the Pixel lineup, for instance. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro have the same screen sizes, but their displays have apparent differences. The Pixel 9 Pro has a Super Actua display with a higher resolution and pixels-per-inch (PPI)—a numbers game we used to play more of about ten years ago when all screens were smaller—and a faster refresh rate. By comparison, the Pixel 9 is not as bright and does not have an always-on display.
It’ll be interesting to see how Apple does it. Will it follow the Pixel lineup and dial down the screen resolution and brightness to keep the battery going on the regular iPhone 17? Or will it adopt always-on display capabilities for both tiers to make iOS features like Standby available to all? We’ll find out the answers soon enough.
