Patent hints at 240Hz refresh rate for iPhone 13

[midian182]

Forward-looking: There were plenty of rumors about the iPhone 12 featuring a 120Hz refresh rate before it launched last October. Sadly for Apple fans, the lineup stuck with the usual 60Hz. But a newly discovered patent suggests the company might quadruple that in the iPhone 13, reaching 240Hz or even higher.

Patently Apple spotted the Cupertino patent, which was recently published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It describes displays with high refresh rate modes, allowing them to operate at two times (120Hz), three times (180Hz), or four times (240Hz) the native refresh rate of 60Hz. It’s also noted that the native refresh rate might be higher than 60Hz.

It could be that rather than selecting a high refresh rate and the device sticking to it, which can affect battery life, Apple could take a leaf from Samsung’s book and offer variable refresh rate displays. The Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, for example, can reach 120Hz when gaming and switch automatically to 60Hz for video playback. It’s even able to drop as low as 10Hz when a still image is being displayed.

If the iPhone 13 does have a 240Hz screen, it will boast the highest refresh rate of any handset. Only a few smartphones can reach 144Hz right now, including the Asus ROG Phone 3, Lenovo Legion Pro, and ZTE Nubia Play.

While the patent appears to have iPhones in mind, another Apple device to feature a 240Hz refresh rate may be a future iPad Pro. The high-end tablets first received 120Hz variable refresh rate screens back in 2017.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/88654-patent-hints-240hz-refresh-rate-iphone-13.html

 

[SirDigby]

I just don't get this push for high refresh rates on mobiles, yes it makes scrolling a little bit smoother, but who cares? it ultimately barely changes the user experience, nothing else takes advantage of it.

 

[Hexic]

I just don't get this push for high refresh rates on mobiles, yes it makes scrolling a little bit smoother, but who cares? it ultimately barely changes the user experience, nothing else takes advantage of it.

The battery sure loves taking advantage of it!

I'm perfectly content with my 90hz, any more and I feel it's more or less a wash. I don't solely game on my phone.

 

[Shadowboxer]

This would be great and everything as long as I can turn it off. I’d rather have 60hz and more battery. If the screen can drop down to 24hz when playing video to save battery then great. But I don’t really ever watching anything on my mobile.

 

[duckofdeath]

Fake patent trlll patent in a hope to make people stop lining up for the S21 Ultra.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Unlikely for the 13.

 

[Wrinkle]

I just don't get this push for high refresh rates on mobiles, yes it makes scrolling a little bit smoother, but who cares? it ultimately barely changes the user experience, nothing else takes advantage of it.

Imo it makes scrolling much more smoother. Whenever I switch between my 120hz phone and my 60hz tablet the difference is like night and day.

Still, it's a nice to have feature and a 240hz refresh rate sounds like complete overkill.

 

[Wasteak]

I just don't get this push for high refresh rates on mobiles, yes it makes scrolling a little bit smoother, but who cares? it ultimately barely changes the user experience, nothing else takes advantage of it.

If you cant see a difference between a 60hz display and a 120 or 144hz one, you either never had a 120hz display or have a poor eyesight..
And it's not a placebo thing, when you switch back to a 60hz display, you'll notice the video having like micro freeze and lag.

 

[Hexic]

If you cant see a difference between a 60hz display and a 120 or 144hz one, you either never had a 120hz display or have a poor eyesight..
And it's not a placebo thing, when you switch back to a 60hz display, you'll notice the video having like micro freeze and lag.

My question is, is there a -distinct- difference that is able to be noticed between the 90 hz and 120, or 90 to 144?

I currently have a 90 hz display via my Pixel 5 (and old OnePlus) and it is quite noticeably different from my 60 hz standard iPhone XR that I use. I think that I have held the new s21, but I don't recall if there was a difference that I could notice from my 90Hz Pixel 5 display...

 

[Wasteak]

My question is, is there a -distinct- difference that is able to be noticed between the 90 hz and 120, or 90 to 144?

I currently have a 90 hz display via my Pixel 5 (and old OnePlus) and it is quite noticeably different from my 60 hz standard iPhone XR that I use. I think that I have held the new s21, but I don't recall if there was a difference that I could notice from my 90Hz Pixel 5 display...

I only did a swich between 60 and 120hz and 144hz. But according to peoples experiences I've read online, they see the difference between 60 and 75hz in gaming. So between a 90 and 120 you might see it too.

 

[p51d007]

My phone came defaulted to 90. I set it to 60. I couldn't see any difference...other than better battery life at 60. 120 & 240? Just another way to push the "numbers" crowd into buying another overpriced device.

 

[Farkinell]

Every year there's a flurry of speculation that Apple with do x amazing feature or y bleeding-edge technology and every year when launch day comes around it's a slight rehash of an existing design or a curved corner here or a square corner there. Apple doesn't do ground-breaking features on iPhones, when will people learn?

It won't be:

Super high refresh rate
Bendy
Foldable
Stretchable
Dockable
Micro or mini LED
Touch, tap or lick ID
Made of an exotic material

It'll be a black or grey rectangle using existing components with $50-100 added to the price and some marketing guff about better photos.

 

[ilovelinux]

I just don't get this push for high refresh rates on mobiles, yes it makes scrolling a little bit smoother, but who cares? it ultimately barely changes the user experience, nothing else takes advantage of it.

Completely agree with you. The only time HRR made any difference to me was playing CSGO competitively on a PC, as I could score a bit better and felt more confident. On phones and tablets, this feels like a gimmick for the most part.

BTW, they should call 240hz Pro MAX motion, since 120hz is already Pro motion. 480hz-> Pro Max Ultra. 960hz-> Pro Max Ultra Universe Boss.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

LOL, why!!!!

Headline gimmick to corral the iSheep.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Every year there's a flurry of speculation that Apple with do x amazing feature or y bleeding-edge technology and every year when launch day comes around it's a slight rehash of an existing design or a curved corner here or a square corner there. Apple doesn't do ground-breaking features on iPhones, when will people learn?

It won't be:

Super high refresh rate
Bendy
Foldable
Stretchable
Dockable
Micro or mini LED
Touch, tap or lick ID
Made of an exotic material

It'll be a black or grey rectangle using existing components with $50-100 added to the price and some marketing guff about better photos.

Out of all those things I would take bendy, stretchable & lick ID. But really I don’t want any of it. It’s a small flat black piece of glass in a case I shove in my pocket and use to call/text/web/tinder. What more do people want? 240hz refresh would be amazing if I played competitive shooters on my phone lol. The only thing I would improve on my 11 pro max if I could would be the camera, bigger sensors, more glass etc. But we are getting to the point where it might be better to add a phone to a compact camera.

Besides Apple already did the bendable phone a few years back. People didn’t like it.