DSCC: No ProMotion (120Hz) on vanilla iPhones until 2025
Last year Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants made the prediction that the base iPhone models will switch over to the Dynamic Island style front facing camera with the 2023 generation, i.e. iPhone 15. Now DSCC has a forecast of when the base models will switch over to ProMotion displays, Apple’s brand name for high refresh rate and no, it’s not this year.
We have already settled that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will skip 120Hz and Always On Display Mode – ditching the notch will be their upgrade this year. However, according to the new data from Young, even next year’s models, the iPhone 16, will use a standard LTPS panel with 60Hz refresh rate. Here’s the timeline that DSCC is predicting:
It looks like Apple wants to keep a clear division between iPhone Pro and vanilla displays. If it’s not the Dynamic Island, it will be ProMotion. And when it’s not ProMotion, it will be an under display FaceID.
Predictions from last year suggested that the FaceID system and potentially the selfie camera will go under the display in 2024. Now that seems unlikely, it may have been pushed back to 2025 and the iPhone 17 launch.
Note that this timeline suggests that the FaceID will go under first (which hasn’t been done before), while the camera will stay above ground with a punch hole (UD cameras have been around for a few years on Android now). It will be only in 2027 with the iPhone 19 series that the iPhone Pro models will get an under display camera.
This will also be the first generation of base iPhones with an under display FaceID system – again, Apple wants a clear differentiation between Pro and vanilla iPhones. Of course, in the meantime, the base models will be getting other improvements.
