Samsung will reportedly supply every single iPhone 13 Pro 120Hz display

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What you need to know

  • Apple will reportedly use a new 120Hz display in the upcoming iPhone 13 Pro.
  • Samsung is said to be the sole supplier of the new panels.

Samsung will be the sole supplier of the 120Hz displays that will be sued in the upcoming iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max devices. That's according to a new report by The Elec.

While the report doesn't mention the Pro version specifically, it's thought that the new 120Hz displays will be reserved for the high-end iPhone 13 models. The new technology will allow for a smoother scrolling experience as well as the potential for an always-on display for the first time – similar to that used on the current Apple Watch Series 6.

Meanwhile, the two higher tier iPhones this year that will use RFPCB will have low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) thin-film transistor (TFT) OLED panels.LTPO OLED is needed for a 120Hz refresh rate screen. These panels will be supplied exclusively by Samsung Display.

Such displays will also allow for improved battery life thanks to a reduced power consumption. They'll also offer a variable refresh rate, potentially allowing Apple to save yet more power when the screen doesn't need to refresh quite so often. That alone could be a huge boon for an always-on screen displaying information like the time and on-screen widgets.

Apple is expected to announce the new iPhones in or around September, depending on chip availability and other factors. Once the new handsets arrive the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are sure to be the best iPhones available thanks in part to that new display technology.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.