Apple’s first 120Hz display on the iPhone 13 Pro is all Samsung, down to the refresh range

While OnePlus put its own twist on the panel with per-unit calibration, and a wider, 1Hz-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, instead of the 10Hz-120Hz that the Galaxy S21 Ultra specs muster, Apple is seemingly content to take the panel from Samsung as is. It does say that it added a continuously adaptive refresh rate, though, so dynamic that it changes each time you touch the screen.

In the press release for the new iPhone 13 Pro models‘ screen Apple cites 10Hz-120Hz dynamic refresh range, or just what Samsung offers off the shelf. At first brush, this may seem like a lazy approach when you realize that the OnePlus 9 Pro panel rarely, if ever, goes down to 1Hz, or even 10Hz.

Most of the time we tested, it was either at 60Hz or at 120Hz, depending on the content shown, with very brief dips during video playback. Apple, on the other hand, clearly shows the usage scenarios in which its iPhone 13 Pro/Max display controller adjusts the refresh rate, from 10Hz to 120Hz indeed.

This helps save on the otherwise trying power draw of high refresh rate displays yet is something all such panels on Android phones already do to one extent or another, plus it remains to be seen if the iPhone 13 Pro dynamic refresh really works like that in practice.

The problem? Well, LG just doesn’t make LTPO displays in a size bigger than those for the Apple Watch yet, Thus, it can’t really craft panels that will refresh 120 time per second, and won’t kill the battery, especially where the 13 mini is concerned, as its predecessor’s battery life is pretty abysmal as it is.

LG, however, “is planning to convert its line to LTPO TFT OLED in the hopes that it will supply them to Apple next year,” tip insiders, and this can only mean one thing – Apple may have two suppliers capable of making modern 120Hz LTPO panels in time for the iPhone 14 series where all of the models will sport high refresh rate panels, not just the more expensive Pro versions.