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Apple iPhone 17 could finally get a modern display

By Daniel Petrov

Published: Jul 22, 2024, 2:56 AM

Apple iPhone

With the iPhone 17, Apple may finally get with the program, and introduce a modern display with low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) technology, and a higher refresh rate.

While other companies are already installing 120Hz panels even on budget phones, Apple would still keep the high refresh rate panels only for the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max models.

Given that the iPhone 16 will likely start from $799, its 60Hz panel just doesn't cut it anymore, and is a torture to use once you have gotten accustomed to faster screens. Not only that, but the LTPS screens on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are power hogs and consume much more energy from the already smallish batteries.

Cheap iPhones could get 120Hz displays

Tipsters have now listed a table with Apple's alleged creative plans for the iPhone franchise and, among gems like an iPhone SE 4 with OLED display, the LTPO upgrade for the 2025 iPhones is listed as well.

It has long been Apple's strategy to introduce incremental changes that make sense from a user perspective, and hop on a new technology bandwagon only when it has been perfected. Besides proving its utility for the end user, the technology should have, last but not least, become cheaper to implement, so that Apple can keep those financials healthy.

The same thing happens over and over at Apple, with OLED displays, folded optics zoom cameras, MagSafe charging and a myriad of other technologies that have been ripe for the picking for years before Apple finally implements them when they become cheap and ubiquitous.

Still offering a $799 phone with 60Hz display in 2024 must be one of the most egregious examples of this so-called "salami" tactic meant to nickel and dime manufacturing costs to preserve profit margins, and hopefully the upcoming iPhone 17 will indeed remedy the slow display panels conundrum of Apple's own creation.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.