iPhone 12 Pro with a 120Hz ProMotion display is unlikely unless delayed

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By Joe Wituschek
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iPhone 12 concept
iPhone 12 concept (Image credit: ConceptsiPhone)

What you need to know

  • The iPhone 12 Pro MAY feature a 120Hz ProMotion display.
  • Apple may not be able to acquire enough drivers to power the 120Hz panel it wants to use.
  • The phone may either get delayed or ship with a 60Hz panel.

The fate of the iPhone 12 Pro with its 120Hz display might rest with one troublesome component.

Reported by MacRumors, Apple may have to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 Pro in order to ship it with the 120Hz ProMotion panel that many are hoping it to feature.

Ross Young, who has reported on past supply chain issues with Apple, says that he is hearing that Apple is having trouble acquiring the drivers necessary to power the 120Hz panels it wants to use with the iPhone 12 Pro. He believes that rather than wait for the drivers to become available, Apple will ship the iPhone with a 60Hz panel instead.

"Hearing that Apple can get 120Hz Pro panels, but not 120Hz driver ICs. So they will either have to come up with a fix which will be difficult, wait for 120Hz driver ICs and delay the launch possibly significantly or launch with 60Hz. We are hearing they will launch with 60Hz."

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Apple leaker Jon Prosser, however, told his community on Sunday to not "give up on 120hz on 12 Pro yet."

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In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Front Page Tech, Prosser said that Apple is still debating and testing the ProMotion display on the iPhone 12 Pro, but that it is working.

"Behind the scenes, Apple is still testing 120Hz, ProMotion, for iPhone 12 Pro. Specifically, at least, in this case with my sources, the 12 Pro Max ... 120Hz is working just fine, with a manual toggle in settings on the iPhone 12 Pro Max."

In its Q3 earnings call, Apple confirmed that the launch of the iPhone 12 would be delayed. It appears that the ProMotion display could be a big part of the reasons why.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.