iPhone 13 Pro ProMotion too aggressive with variable refresh rate?

[no0nefamous]

Does anyone else feel that iOS is dipping the refresh rate down too often with ProMotion?

ProMotion, like 120hz on other phones, varies the refresh rate to save battery when fast refresh rates are not needed. But, too often, I am noticing the screen dip down to lower refresh rates during fast animations.

I'm not someone who claims that they don't notice much of a difference with 120hz. I definitely do. I'm very sensitive to framerate and refresh rate differences and ProMotion was one of the only reasons I decided to upgrade from a 12 Pro to a 13 Pro. When it's obviously outputting 120hz, it looks great, but, yeah, I'm seeing enough dips that it's somewhat disappointing. Especially when comparing to a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra - those things never seem to dip, skip, or stutter and all I want is an iPhone that performs that well visually.

If this is going to be the norm I wish there were some sort of toggle in the Display settings, something like:

- Prefer high visual performance (uses more battery)
- Balanced (the current default)
- ProMotion Off (uses less battery - note, currently this is automatically enabled if Low Power Mode is enabled)

 

[akash.nu]

Apps will need to be updated to take advantage of promotion properly. Give it a few months.

 

[purped94]

It almost feel like the 120Hz on iphone is not as smooth as Samsung S21 Ultra. Im not sure whether apple doing this due to battery lofe concern or we can get some updates in future to have some sort of balanced

 

[akash.nu]

It almost feel like the 120Hz on iphone is not as smooth as Samsung S21 Ultra. Im not sure whether apple doing this due to battery lofe concern or we can get some updates in future to have some sort of balanced

It is for battery life. There’s no point in keeping the screen refreshed 120 times on mostly static or video content that requires less refresh rate. Only where it’s required such as games or when you’re scrolling is when you’d see the difference.

Samsung’s just refreshing the screen always.

If you’re within specific apps then those apps need to be updated to take advantage of the new refresh rates properly.

 

[no0nefamous]

Samsung’s just refreshing the screen always.

No. Samsung is also using variable refresh rates, yet their phones look more consistently smooth than the 13 Pro. Apple is always just overly cautious about the battery on new phones since it’s the first thing people complain about.

I’m hoping this will improve over time with tweaks and other apps catching up.

 

[jm31828]

I’ve had my 13 pro for a week now and honestly I’m disappointed- I’m not seeing any noticeable difference. Scrolling Facebook, Tapatalk, or Reddit is choppy/jerky and blurry just as it was in my 12 mini and previous phones.
I know these apps have yet to be updated to support promotion- but that’s the point- not sure there is anywhere to really see it in action much right now.

 

[The Game 161]

It almost feel like the 120Hz on iphone is not as smooth as Samsung S21 Ultra. Im not sure whether apple doing this due to battery lofe concern or we can get some updates in future to have some sort of balanced

Yeah s21 ultra 120hz is certainly better and more noticeable. Dunno why apps need to be updated clearly apple is using a different type to help with battery life

 

[Taz Mangus]

I’ve had my 13 pro for a week now and honestly I’m disappointed- I’m not seeing any noticeable difference. Scrolling Facebook, Tapatalk, or Reddit is choppy/jerky and blurry just as it was in my 12 mini and previous phones.
I know these apps have yet to be updated to support promotion- but that’s the point- not sure there is anywhere to really see it in action much right now.

I can see a difference when scrolling in Safari. Try toggling Settings->Accessibility->Motion->Limit Frame Rate and try scrolling in Safari with Frane rate enabled (60 Hz) and disabled (120 Hz). Try doing slow and medium scrolling: The main purpose is to save battery life and the side benefit will be smoother animations and scrolling.

Personally, I can’t go back to using a 60 Hz display now that I have been using the 120 Hz display on my 13 Pro Max.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Yeah s21 ultra 120hz is certainly better and more noticeable. Dunno why apps need to be updated clearly apple is using a different type to help with battery life

Apple does employ an aggressive 120 Hz algorithm. It’s main advantage is better battery life. And in every battery test involving the 13 Pro Max and the S21 Ultra, the 13 Pro Max get several hours of better battery life. Part of that is due to the ProMotion display, the A15 and iOS 15.

 

[no0nefamous]

Given the choice I would take worse battery life and a phone that looks and performs as well as the S21U. I hate that these premium phones feel neutered by overly aggressive battery-saving algorithms and we should be given a choice.

 

[khalitzy]

Is it still too aggressive on the latest iOS?

 

[no0nefamous]

Is it still too aggressive on the latest iOS?

Well I did a DFU restore and that + 15.1.1 seems to have helped quite a bit.

 

[khalitzy]

Well I did a DFU restore and that + 15.1.1 seems to have helped quite a bit.

is it on par with S21U now? ?

 

[no0nefamous]

is it on par with S21U now? ?

Ehh. Close enough! I'll always take iOS over Samsung's modified Android.

 

[WilliamG]

I can’t stand how the Reachability animation is STILL 60hz on the new iPhone Pro line. Crazy.

 

[no0nefamous]

I can’t stand how the Reachability animation is STILL 60hz on the new iPhone Pro line. Crazy.

Yeah, there's quite a few things that need to be updated still and I think this is probably a lot of what my issue was.

 

[The Game 161]

is it on par with S21U now? ?

No

s21 ultra 120h is still more noticeable. 120hz on iPad Pro is also better than on 13 pro max

 

[The Game 161]

Apple does employ an aggressive 120 Hz algorithm. It’s main advantage is better battery life. And in every battery test involving the 13 Pro Max and the S21 Ultra, the 13 Pro Max get several hours of better battery life. Part of that is due to the ProMotion display, the A15 and iOS 15.

Yeah I get it battery life is great but it certainly doesn’t feel as smooth as s21 ultra or the iOS pros. I’m still happy as it’s better than 60hz but it’s not been as big a difference as it should be

 

[no0nefamous]

Wanted to add a follow up. I've decided that, no, it's still not good enough. I should never see the frames. Ever. There's no excuse for a $1,000 phone in 2021 to EVER be choppy.

 

[no0nefamous]

I have noticed that this has improved with 15.2 and even more with 15.3, but there's still a bit to go before it feels as consistently smooth as an S21/S21U. I'm assuming it will just continue to improve as the updates roll out.

 

[WilliamG]

I have noticed that this has improved with 15.2 and even more with 15.3, but there's still a bit to go before it feels as consistently smooth as an S21/S21U. I'm assuming it will just continue to improve as the updates roll out.

Reachability animation is still stuck at 60hz. Come on, Apple!

 

[no0nefamous]

Apparently this is being addressed in 13.4.

iOS 15.4 Polishes iPhone 13 Pro’s Tentpole 120Hz Screen Tech For Apps

iOS 15.4 fixes iPhone 13 Pro's 120Hz app issue.

screenrant.com

Good, but frustrating that it's 6 months into the device's life before getting addressed.

 

[realpras]

Apparently this is being addressed in 13.4.

iOS 15.4 Polishes iPhone 13 Pro’s Tentpole 120Hz Screen Tech For Apps

iOS 15.4 fixes iPhone 13 Pro's 120Hz app issue.

screenrant.com

Good, but frustrating that it's 6 months into the device's life before getting addressed.

So far, you’re not wrong when you say other high-refresh rate displays (including iPad Pros) are smoother than iPhone 13 Pros. Let’s hope it gets better on 15.4, not just 3rd-party apps but system-wide

 

[no0nefamous]

It's kind of really frustrating to have upgraded specifically for this feature only for them to not let the phone actually use it enough, let alone go 6 months prohibiting 3rd party aps from using it.

I barely ever see my battery dip below 75% after a day of normal use. Please just let me see 120hz all the time!

 

[Taz Mangus]

It's kind of really frustrating to have upgraded specifically for this feature only for them to not let the phone actually use it enough, let alone go 6 months prohibiting 3rd party aps from using it.

I barely ever see my battery dip below 75% after a day of normal use. Please just let me see 120hz all the time!

You don’t want a fixed 120Hz used in every situation. Static imagine, use 10Hz. Watch a movie, use 30Hz or 60Hz. You want variable refresh rate, otherwise the battery life would be horrible. Those phones that have a fixed 120Hz refresh rate don’t get very good battery life.