While things like resolution and the type of display (LCD, AMOLED, etc.) play an important role in determining how a phone’s display and content looks like, there are other factors that need to be taken into consideration, such as refresh rate. At the moment iOS devices are set at a default refresh rate of 60Hz, but it seems that future iOS devices could be faster.
In a recent tweet by developer Steve Troughton-Smith (via Cult of Mac), it has been discovered within iOS 10.3’s code that there are references made to a possible faster refresh rate. The code hints at how developers can take advantage of several display modes, such as 60fps, 30fps, and “default”, which some have speculated could be higher than 60.
I remain reasonably convinced that an iOS device screen refresh rate higher than 60Hz is possible this year pic.twitter.com/k9W4q8rxcm
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) March 22, 2017
Troughton-Smith also adds, “When the OS starts to include explicit references that line up with months-old rumor reporting, that leaves little room for doubt.” As Cult of Mac points out, an earlier report from Bloomberg hinted that Apple was working on deeper stylus integration for its iPad lineup, and having a faster refresh rate could indeed help with the responsiveness with the Apple Pencil amongst other things.
Apple is rumored to announce a 10.5-inch iPad Pro next month so it is possible that this rumored iPad could pack a display with a faster refresh rate. Or maybe the code could be referencing the next-gen iPhone, but either way take it with a grain of salt and hopefully we’ll have more details soon.