Apple’s weirdest tech compromise may continue on next year’s iPhone.
According to leaks from the South Korean tech site Naver and Twitter leaker @Tech_Reve, the base iPhone 16 and 16 Plus display may still be stuck with a 60Hz refresh rate. For the uninitiated, that’s how many times per second the display refreshes — and a higher refresh rate produces a smoother experience for scrolling, watching videos, mobile gaming, and more.
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To be fair, 60Hz is not in itself a bad refresh rate, but it’s a good deal lower than what has become standard in recent flagship smartphones. Both of Google’s Pixel 8 phones rock a 120Hz refresh rate — even the budget Pixel 7a from earlier this year goes up to 90hz. In fact, Apple clearly understands this as well as anyone because the iPhone 15 Pro models both have 120Hz displays, too.
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It’s just a bizarre hill for Apple to potentially die on, especially as the company upgrades base iPhone displays in other ways, like adding Dynamic Island support this year. But hey, maybe these leaks are wrong. Let’s hope so.
