Ongoing heavy ProMotion-caused stutter on 16.2

[FrostLK8]

I probably don't have to introduce this issue as it has been widespread and widely documented, but holy moly is it bad.

I've been extensively testing over the past few days, and tested further on the M2 today vs. a 60 HZ screen side by side. The difference is really night and day when it comes to gaming: every finger move, every character or map movement stutters like crazy on 120 HZ due to the messed up adaptive refresh rates that go haywire and are perpetually out of sync with in-app settings.

Limiting the iPad to 60 HZ minimises the problem somewhat but doesn't fix it outright since it now continues to vary between 10-60 instead of flat 60 HZ (or 120 HZ, if playing 120 FPS), and consequently even that isn't as smooth as simple native 60 HZ (which it's supposed to be when 60 FPS settings are being requested by an app).

Just thought I'd put a PSA on the iPad forums here as well, for those who don't follow the ongoing bug threads over on the iPhone ones. As it stands, all the hardware firepower in these iPhones and iPads serves no purpose for games at all because the screen completely precludes the intended smooth end result.

Also, fwiw - it isn't reproducible through recordings because recording forces a constant 120 FPS (which almost serves as a cynical reminder that Apple is completely capable of providing a consistent frame rate to a process if they want to).

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

That’s the beauty of variable refresh rates for companies, promote 120hz+ but probably never see it and you get the benefit of stutter as it tries to figure itself out while doing mundane tasks.

 

[FrostLK8]

Unfortunately, yes - and it's incredibly obvious in even the simplest of games. Nobody can tell me that CoC is demanding and must stutter, right? And yet it does, very clearly, and very unlike on native 60 or 120 HZ displays.

Heck, even Genshin has been optimised to actually run much smoother on M2 than it did on M1, and yet here we are - all of that processing power and all of that optimization thrown down the drain because the display itself makes things look beyond laggy.

I've been looking for ways to downgrade to 15.7 which supposedly was the last normal working release before the displays went haywire, but I don't think that'll be possible for M2 iPads or iPhone 14 PMs.

 

[I7guy]

This issue is not present on my 14 PM or m1 ipad. However, if you figure out how to run 15.7 on the PM you will be an instant internet hero.

 

[FrostLK8]

This issue is not present on my 14 PM or m1 ipad. However, if you figure out how to run 15.7 on the PM you will be an instant internet hero.

Which games did you test it on? Did you test them extensively?

I'm curious because I did test it on two M1 units as well, and it was quite obvious to me, as well as a ton of other people reporting it right here, on Reddit, on Apple dev forums, etc. Quite a few people however don't realise it lags until they either enter games that need consistent frame rates, or see the difference side by side. It isn't a noticeable UI issue, for me at least - but it is very clearly an issue in gaming.

Regarding the latter part, yeah... Unfortunately. Wish they came with 15.7, that'd be a nice simple solution.

 

[I7guy]

Which games did you test it on? Did you test them extensively?

I'm curious because I did test it on two M1 units as well, and it was quite obvious to me, as well as a ton of other people reporting it right here, on Reddit, on Apple dev forums, etc. Quite a few people however don't realise it lags until they either enter games that need consistent frame rates, or see the difference side by side. It isn't a noticeable UI issue, for me at least - but it is very clearly an issue in gaming.

Regarding the latter part, yeah... Unfortunately. Wish they came with 15.7, that'd be a nice simple solution.

I didn’t know about this “issue” until now. I don’t game so maybe the triggers for the UI glitches are not present.

 

[Misos]

Yep Genshin stutters badly on my iPhone 14 pro max. I had an iPhone 13 Pro Max before running iOS 15.7 and it was so smooth, now I can't even play it because it just stutters constantly. Apparently plenty of people have reported this issue on the feedback app but Apple has yet to address this issue. What a waste of $1000 on this phone.

 

[FrostLK8]

I didn’t know about this “issue” until now. I don’t game so maybe the triggers for the UI glitches are not present.

Ah, yeah, that'd explain it - I also don't really see it in the UI, only in all gaming applications. It doesn't even matter if it's a demanding game or something simple from 10 years ago, it's all-pervasive and very visible.

I wouldn't call it an "issue" in quotation marks though. Many people buy these devices expressly for gaming: streamers, content creators, YouTubers, myself and my wife too (as a hobby), so when the screen itself messes up an otherwise capable device... Well, it's a shame.

Yep Genshin stutters badly on my iPhone 14 pro max. I had an iPhone 13 Pro Max before running iOS 15.7 and it was so smooth, now I can't even play it because it just stutters constantly. Apparently plenty of people have reported this issue on the feedback app but Apple has yet to address this issue. What a waste of $1000 on this phone.

I did report in the feedback app and the unsolicited feedback form too, as did others. I know they're aware of the issue because multiple people from this forum got in touch with them over it and were reporting back on threads here, but it seems like they're having trouble figuring it out. They thought they fixed it in 16.2, but it came right back.