Could be, or it could also be sensitivity, a bit of a 'princess and the pea' situation. For example, with my eyesight, it took me a month to realise my HDMI cable didn't support 4k@60Hz, and I had two identical screens running next to each other, one at 30Hz, one at 60Hz. And that's not to mention higher refresh rates. I have to deliberately look for differences and even then I need to check the settings to be sure. I can't tell the difference when my MacBook Pro is set to 60Hz or ProMotion.
One I see somewhat often since iOS 26 that, per your comment, you wouldn't notice is the animation when switching Safari tab groups will sometimes lock at a lower frame rate. Quit the app and re-open, and the animation is back to a high frame rate. Apple sells "Pro" devices with "ProMotion" displays, so yes I get annoyed when their own software can't maintain smooth animations.
Fair enough. Given I have an iPhone 14, I'm not in a position to comment. I've got no idea how iOS behaves on ProMotion screens.
Whilst I take on board your wider point, it’s worth remembering that 29.97 frames per second NTSC has a refresh rate of about 60 fields per second (each frame consists of two fields drawn, top to bottom, one after the other). And 24 fps cinema projection had a flicker rate of 48 Hz (the shutter opened twice per frame to reduce perceived flicker).
But just the chips that can show up as discrepancies. Same parts source from different factories makes a possible "tolerance tombola".
Annual OS upgrades were always too much for Apple to keep up with. They try to cram too much in those bento boxes, rush it out the door, and then it takes too long to get polished. Too much crunch culture and not a long enough beta testing period. Never understood why they tie new phone releases to new OS releases. You are always trying the best new toys with the most slapdash version of the OS and it just gives a bad first impression. If they have to have a new OS every year, I would much prefer them to go back to a Macworld in January and do software at the beginning of the calendar year and keep it separate from hardware announcements.
I doubt this will happen as the new iOS version contains features specific to the hardware.
Nope. You’re assuming they don’t know what hardware they will be using next fall to include simple driver support in a January release for their own internal testing and then do a patch if necessary at hardware release. The OS is not a house of cards built on top of the hardware. We frequently get new iPads and MacBooks year round with just a decimal bump. iPhones are already moving to a fall/spring split, and we are not going to get two new iOSes each year. It’s not the monumental lift that you think it is.
Apple is going to stick with their existing cadence. Announcements at WWDC. Availability in September along with new hardware. Of course Apple could pivot based on MR posters pleadings. /s
Yes, Apple is an inflexible monolith of a company stuck in the past and cannot adapt to changing conditions. I don't know why I didn't come up with such an astute observation. Apple is incapable of change. I was foolish to think that new leadership would lead to any improvements in their methodology.
Of course the other way to view it is Apple for its sheer scale is fairly adaptable and does what they feel is best for the majority of its consumers. Not MR posters.
My company once went for yearly to 18 month releases. Marketing just made us put more features into the 18 month releases.
