Apple introduced ProMotion display tech with the iPhone 13 Pro series, which allows the phones to offer a smooth experience with a 120Hz refresh rate. The high refresh rate is especially beneficial for tasks like scrolling and navigating through the UI that includes system animations.
iOS 18 turns out to be limiting the refresh rate to 80Hz on Pro iPhones
However, tipster Ice Universe shows that iOS 18 is still limiting the refresh rate of most scenes to 80Hz. It means the viewing experience will be only slightly better than a 60Hz smartphone and significantly. In contrast, most of the Android devices in the price range of recent Pro iPhones support a 120 Hz refresh rate with some reaching up to 144Hz. Almost all of them also come with chipsets that are capable enough to handle the workload. So the experience in certain scenarios should be better on an Android as compared to Pro iPhones running on iOS 18 such as the Pro models of the iPhone 16 lineup.
As the tipster suggests, the refresh rate does climb to 120Hz occasionally, but for the most part, it caps at 80Hz. It is also evident from a video posted by Weibo (Chinese microblogging site) user Sun Bin 1990. In the video, the iPhone is sticking to an 80Hz refresh rate while scrolling through Weibo while occasionally hitting 120Hz as the scrolling speed exceeds a certain limit.
All the recent Pro iPhone models come with enough hardware resources to maintain the refresh rate at 120Hz. It also reduces motion blur during fast-paced games and offers a more responsive feel when interacting with the device. Limiting the refresh rate in iOS 18 is likely aimed at preserving the battery.
If you swipe really hard, it drops the refresh rate to 80Hz
X user @BrightMinho also tested the adaptive refresh rate and shared his observations. According to him, iOS 18 switches to 60Hz when the screen is still. During normal swipes, the screen can go up to 120Hz. However, if you swipe really hard, it drops it to 80Hz. This is surprising because the higher refresh rate should be the most beneficial for fast-moving subjects. It turns out that the Pro iPhones with iOS 18 do go down to 60Hz and reach up to 120Hz, and it’s not really limiting the refresh rate to 80Hz. “I thought it was stuck at 80Hz and only occasionally hit 120Hz. But it’s not like that”, notes the user.