Long-awaited design upgrade for iPhone 17 is around the corner, new leak claims

The iPhone 17 series will arrive next fall, but a new report suggests it may include something fans have wanted for years: ProMotion 120Hz displays on the entry-level iPhone. Here's what the report says.

When Apple released the latest iPhone series in September 2024, the response to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus was positive in almost every way. Critics, including me, felt that the new iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are closer to the Pro models than ever before.

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But there was a reason the flood of upgrades had left the non-Pro iPhones before: the display. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both feature a screen with a 60Hz refresh rate, an attribute that Apple has stubbornly stuck to.

Many pointed out that you can buy an Android phone for much less money than the iPhone 16, which has a faster refresh rate.

The next iPhone could change all that, as the same low-temperature polycrystalline oxide panel technology will be applied to all models in the iPhone 17 series, according to a new report from South Korean website ET News.

This is the same technology Apple currently uses in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The regular iPhones use LTPS, which uses more power and is not as expensive to produce.

A switch to LTPO would mean that “Apple has decided to fully adopt LTPO to improve the performance of the general model,” according to ET News, which refers to the non-Pro iPhones as general models.

Wait a minute, you say, there is no mention of 120 Hz here.

True, but it's hard to escape the idea that it's coming too, as LTPO allows variable refresh rates with lower power consumption, meaning Apple could introduce ProMotion without sacrificing battery life.

And there's another reason to believe ProMotion is coming: Next spring, Apple is expected to launch its fourth-generation iPhone SE. This is expected to introduce many of the features of the flagship iPhones, such as an all-screen design with Face ID, an upgrade to OLED and a 48-megapixel camera.

Apple needs to differentiate between the SE and the iPhone 17 to prevent people from upgrading to the cheaper SE. The introduction of ProMotion on the general model for the first time could be a major bonus to the iPhone 17's design improvement to set the new phone apart.

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