The iPhone 17 might have the one feature that Android users still brag about

Android users, your days of comparing iPhone to Android devices spec-by-spec are numbered. Once Apple adopts a higher refresh rate for its top-tier iPhone, it’s over for anyone playing Bragging Rights Bingo.

We’re a day away from the start of a new year, typically when the “next iPhone” rumors start popping up. The current leak dates back to September and says that the iPhone 17 will have a screen with a higher refresh rate compared to past iPhones.

Apple has used ProMotion, or 120Hz, displays since the iPhone 13 Pro. Since then, only the Pro models have offered a variation of ProMotion, with the iPhone 15 Pro being the first to adopt the always-on display. According to a escape on the Chinese social network Weibostarting from 2025, all iPhone models claim ProMotion screens, no longer limiting them to the higher priced variant.

The leak comes from a leaker mentioned earlier, Digital chat stationwhich also started the rumor that the iPhone 17 Pro will get a redesign of the backside. We’ll see about that. This rumor is spreading because we heard it from the display analyst Ross Young. The literal supply chain offers the best look at what’s to come.

Apple has started packing more Pro-level features into its top-tier iPhone. this year, surprised us by including the Control Camera button in all iPhone 16 models. Apple typically launches new features, such as the The dynamic island, first for Pro users. The company has also made Apple Intelligence available to those who choose $800 two cameras iPhone 16 above three bedrooms $1,000 iPhone 16 Pro. That’s why noise makes sense. The adoption of the iPhone 17 of a higher refresh rate will follow in this practice.

If Apple uses ProMotion across the board, this could be a boon for everything that happens with the Pixel line, for example. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro have the same screen size, but their screens have apparent differences. U Pixel 9 Pro it has a Super Actua display with a higher resolution and pixels-per-inch (PPI) – a numbers game that we used to play more than about ten years ago when all screens were smaller – and a faster refresh rate . In comparison, the Pixel 9 is not as bright and does not always have a display.

It will be interesting to see how Apple does. Will it follow the line of Pixel and lower the resolution and brightness of the screen to preserve the battery in the normal iPhone 17? Or adopt display capabilities always on both levels to do iOS functions like Stand by available to everyone? We’ll find out the answers soon.