DigiTimes: iPhone 13 Pro Models to Feature 120Hz ProMotion Refresh Rate and 15-20% Less Power Consumption

[ksec]

1. 15% - 20% Energy efficient doesn't mean you get the improvement in battery life. As Apple might reduce Battery Size. ( As they do from time to time )

2. I dont see how that 15-20% improvement is coming from. Even if you consider a leap from A15 uArch. The SoC in itself doesn't actually use that much power from an total energy consumption. Qualcomm X60 modem might likely have the play here. There are rumours of TSMC rushing new 5nm capacity and Qualcomm suddenly move back to TSMC for urgent orders. I dont think anyone would use "urgent" order for anyone other than Apple. I secretly hope the push back of possible M1 Mac are because of capacity moving to iPhone and possible Qualcomm X60 being on TSMC 5nm instead of Samsung. ( But even that is extremely unlikely )

3. But then again even if the whole SoC, Modem *and* LPDDR5 gets 30% reduction in energy usage still doesn't come to 15% over all improvement. Let alone the 20%. Especially when you include the 120hz Screen.

4. I am worried iPhone 13 will all have LTPS from BOE. ( Cost Reduction ) While Samsung will only get those LTPO Screen on the Pro.

5. Someday I hope we get Solid Battery and finally have thinner phone again. Something the thickness of iPad Pro.

 

[miniyou64]

Yeah PWM a phenomenon that Macrumors seems to love to ignore, affects a lot of people causing headaches and making Apple’s flagship phones impossible for some people to use. Hopefully this increase helps with that

 

[Populus]

I honestly thought that my iPhone 12 Pro already had 120hz before I got it...

I was disappointed when I got more tap/swipe/zoom failures on it than my previous Samsung device.

Glad to see they're bringing it to iPhone finally although I wonder if they'll make it a differentiator between the Pro and regular, like they do with the iPad.

Definitely, the pro-motion display, if finally implemented, will be a Pro only feature.

 

[MacBH928]

I may be wrong, and I never thought I would say this ever, but the CPU in mobile devices are too fast already. Making them faster won't see real benefit to the end user. Advancement in battery and other tech is the way to go in the future.

 

[EvilEvil]

All they have to do now is add USB-C and get rid of the notch.

 

[x-evil-x]

This is why I love iterative upgrades and usually buy iPhones on the “S” years. A new design can be great, but solid improvements in quality of life features (battery, efficiency, speakers, display, etc.) is so much better.

S versions really haven't been worth while in a long long time. The 12 pro's will be very good still for years. This is little features not like the S model used to be back in iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 6, 6s. Right around the time of the 6s the S models imo haven't been anything wonderful. Nothing to upgrade year after year for.
The S models where basically fixing previous years shortcomings which a 120 refesh rate and a little bit better battery doesn't do.

 

[MrGuder]

This is an acknowledgment that power consumption was/is an issue on iPhone 12 pros.

The problem is every year Apple adds some kind of new feature that it didn’t have before and it almost always causes battery drain. It was 5g last yr, this yr will be something else. Apple has always struggled with battery consumption.

 

[MacStreamer]

All they have to do now is add USB-C and get rid of the notch.

My 12 pro works great without USB-C and with the notch. I suspect millions of other customers think the same way.

 

[Prof.]

15-20% less power consumption is impressive.

Now watch apple decrease the battery size so they can make a thinner iPhone 13.

 

[jmgregory1]

I could care less about 120Hz on my iPhone, because I’ve just not seen anything that shows what real and functional improvement it offers vs the current 60Hz screen. And I don’t want anybody to say, you can fast scroll more smoothly - as that is exactly what YouTuber’s try to do to show how much better 120Hz is, as if fast scrolling is a must-have feature used every day, every hour, every minute in every application. And for most of the people trying to show the difference, they’re filming it with a lower frame rate, just to “show” you have the 60Hz screen stutters.

It’s not that I don’t know what 120Hz offers, as I’ve been using my 2018 iPad Pro 12.9” as a daily driver for the past couple of years and the one thing I know I don’t like about it, has been the battery life hit it can have, especially when it does shift to higher rates.

The one area I do think it could offer some benefit to, is lower than 60Hz refresh rate, be it for always-on info or running videos at lower more natural refresh rates. Of course I’ll be fine having it once there is no option when updating, but it’s certainly not been high on my list of must-haves.

 

[Brien]

I don't generally upgrade every year but if true, bye 12 Pro.

Especially if this opens the door to Pencil support.

 

[waveman]

Here is what I think about iPhone batteries: they work perfectly when the iPhone is laying down on the desk connected to the power source. When I go jogging and it's cold, this useless piece of crap is just switching itself off! One minute it shows it shows 70% battery, the next minute is resetting only to show 15% and it dies! When I come back home after unsuccessful run tracking and connect this brick to the charger, it starts and shows 69% battery. I absolutely hate this experience, and therefore came to conclusion that to track your sport activities without any hassle, use a simple watch, not an electronic one, and make a not on a sheet of paper.

The same goes for my MacBook Pro battery. It has only 60 charging cycles, but the battery got swollen, it works but I cannot replace it because it's out of warranty and I cannot paying hundreds of dollars for replacement. In the past I'd simply replace the battery myself but Apple knows best how to f*** with people and now it's impossible! And those who life in countries without Apple Stores can actually go to hell, and are stuck with their bricks because every single repair costs a lot!

And you know what I hear from Authorised Apple Service Providers when asked about the repair costs? They say that it's actually cheaper to buy a new device (same type) then try to repair your old one. Nice! That's also taking care of the planet, right?

💩💩

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

@samifathi
But I still don’t understand, if the LTPO displays are going to be mass manufactured for all the iPhone 13 lineup -to improve battery life- and only the Pro models will have the Pro-motion display feature? Or the regular iPhone 13 won’t have LTPO displays? Then, the power consumption benefits will be only for the Pro models...

I’m not sure what the report means in this regard, because it says the display production is being completely converted to this technology.

Likely LTPO technology is for all iPhone 13 models, but ProMotion is for the Pro models only.

 

[Populus]

Likely LTPO technology is for all iPhone 13 models, but ProMotion is for the Pro models only.

I wish this was the case, honestly. However the info leaks are confusing. At the beginning of this post, for instance, it talks about LTPO panels for the Pro lineup. We'll see, but I want those energy gains from this screens even if I don't have a Pro-motion display on my mini. I don't care about pro-motion on iPhone, I do care about energy efficiency, battery life and always-on displays.

 

[subi257]

I’ve been waiting years for 120 Hz to finally arrive. Just a shame that the non-Pro models won’t be getting it.

That makes total sense, if they start putting all of the fancy upgrades in the non Pro model, what's the point of having a pro model. That would eventually make the non pro model the same as the pro.

 

[xpxp2002]

I wish this was the case, honestly. However the info leaks are confusing. At the beginning of this post, for instance, it talks about LTPO panels for the Pro lineup. We'll see, but I want those energy gains from this screens even if I don't have a Pro-motion display on my mini. I don't care about pro-motion on iPhone, I do care about energy efficiency, battery life and always-on displays.

This is exactly what’s so frustrating about Apple doing this “Pro” model split, just like when they used to relegate the better camera to the Plus models. The mini is the perfect size (finally!), but you have to sacrifice features like the better build materials, the telephoto lens, and now likely a more power efficient and better quality display just to have a reasonably-sized phone.

Personally, I don’t care about an always-on display and the battery life of the mini is just fine as-is to me, but I really want ProMotion like my iPad has had for years. It’s just frustrating that Apple will punish users who want a mobile phone that’s actually mobile by artificially making them wait even longer (probably at least two more years) for improvements that the Pro models will get this year.

 

[mashdots]

I could care less about 120Hz on my iPhone

So you care a little about it???? 😉

Jokes aside, I don't see a huge utility from the increased refresh rate, but seeing my fiancée's high-refresh-rate monitor compared to my standard one makes me excited for the possibilities. Frankly at this point it's the main thing that'll make me interested in upgrading.

My 12 pro works great without USB-C and with the notch. I suspect millions of other customers think the same way.

I could do with or without USB-C. I just want to be able to plug in to either sync or use carplay. if they take the port away, i want a solid solution.

The notch though, I don't even notice it at this point. You get used to it.

 

[Hyperchaotic]

Having a iteration that focused on battery over camera would be appreciated

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

 

[x-evil-x]

So you care a little about it???? 😉

Jokes aside, I don't see a huge utility from the increased refresh rate, but seeing my fiancée's high-refresh-rate monitor compared to my standard one makes me excited for the possibilities. Frankly at this point it's the main thing that'll make me interested in upgrading.


I could do with or without USB-C. I just want to be able to plug in to either sync or use carplay. if they take the port away, i want a solid solution.

The notch though, I don't even notice it at this point. You get used to it.

You’d also get used to a full screen phone real quick.
we tend to forget about the notch but it does cut into a lot of ui elements that pull the whole screen down too much. Just In safari you lose .25”-5” from the ui because of the layout of that under notch bar nonsense. A full screen phone will be nice to have when it’s here.

 

[mashdots]

You’d also get used to a full screen phone real quick.
we tend to forget about the notch but it does cut into a lot of ui elements that pull the whole screen down too much. Just In safari you lose .25”-5” from the ui because of the layout of that under notch bar nonsense. A full screen phone will be nice to have when it’s here.

That's a good point. I wonder if apple would forego the face id (and therefore the notch) on specific models since they can put the finger print sensor in buttons now. i wouldn't be surprised though if at some point they better integrated face id so the notch could go away.

 

[bbplayer5]

15-20%? Suuurrrrrreeeee

 

[The Game 161]

Likely LTPO technology is for all iPhone 13 models, but ProMotion is for the Pro models only.

No pros only. Ltpo is for 120hz basically

 

[ColdShadow]

lets nor forget the amount of parts they need to source the pro models is massive compared to other companies

How is that?
Others also have top end models (different names (ultra/Pro etc)which have more features and parts than iPhone Pro..example S21 Ultra has more cameras,under display fingerprint sensor,in addition to all that Apple Pro series offers..so what parts of iPhone Pro range are you talking about exactly?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

No pros only. Ltpo is for 120hz basically

You should tell that to the LED iPads which have 120hz and no LTPO.

 

[Mr.Simple]

With a good dc dimming function it will be so great!