That iPhone 14 should be arriving in a few months, and many are wondering if it’s worth upgrading over that iPhone 13. As it sounds, the iPhone 14 pro will certainly be a worthy successor to the excellent iPhone 13 pro. But as much as we liked the four iPhone 13 models, there’s always room for improvement.
With the iPhone 14 fast approaching, I wanted to take a moment to state two things I really want to see. My colleague Philip Michaels misplaced ours seven possible upgrades over the iPhone 13but I want to refine the display.
In short, there are two things I would like to see on the iPhone 14’s screen: ProMotion on all four models and an always-on display.
Give us more than 60 Hz
The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro max both feature 120Hz ProMotion displays. That means the phone can dynamically scale up to 120 frames per second, making for smoother scrolling and gameplay. Unfortunately, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini didn’t get this feature.
While we’re pretty sure Apple will keep 120Hz as a unique feature for its Pro phone, I think the company could give the iPhone 14 and the rumored iPhone 14 Max 90Hz ProMotion displays. This would help the iPhone become more competitive with Android phones like that Pixel6 or Galaxy S22. (The former will be the main photography rival of the iPhone 14 until October 14 Pixel7 starts.)
Many of the The best Android phones Sport high refresh rate displays and the iPhone 14 will look oddly out of place and quite dated if it doesn’t have one. If Apple went for 90Hz on the non-Pro iPhone 14 models, those phones would look a lot more appealing to people who don’t want to spend big bucks on a Pro model. After all, that’s the thinking behind the iPhone 14 Max rumors – to give people a big-screen iPhone option that isn’t the most expensive version.
The best performance and strongest camera hardware will always remain exclusive to Pro. But in this day and age, with even some of the best cheap cell phones Rocking high refresh rate screens, I want to see the regular iPhone 14 get ProMotion even if it’s 90Hz.
I want an always-on display
I spoke about it ahead of the launch of the iPhone 13, quite extensive if memory serves The iPhone 13 uses OLED technology for its display, meaning Apple could add something Android phones have had for years — an always-on display, or AOD.
If you don’t know what that is, here’s the gist. Because OLED panels can turn off individual pixels to save battery (that’s how you get those true blacks, too), the display can illuminate specific parts to show the time, notifications, and other relevant information. It’s really quite handy and something I miss every time I look at my iPhone 13 Pro Max’s blank screen.
AOD offers a level of utility that the iPhone just doesn’t have right now. It uses far less power than lighting the entire screen so you can check the time or see your notifications. AOD can also uncover other things like calendar appointments, weather, and battery percentage.
We can talk about the lackluster iOS lock screen all day, but I want to see AOD on all iPhone 14 models. This shouldn’t just be a pro feature, especially since the technology is available directly to Apple. In fact, the lack of AOD at this point is just stubbornness on the part of Apple. I don’t see any reason why the iPhone 12 and later can’t have an AOD.
iPhone 14 outlook
Will Apple listen to me? I doubt it. But smartphones have reached the iterative phase where there’s hardly anything really new every year. You’re often best served by waiting two or three years between phone upgrades, as the differences are more obvious then.
The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max did great things for iPhone displays. I love Promotion. I think it’s smoother than anything I’ve seen on Android, especially now that Apple has fixed the bug affecting ProMotion in third-party apps.
I just want the iPhone 14 to finally climb above 60Hz. Once you see those higher frame rates, it’s hard to go back. And the lack of always-on displays still baffles me to this day, so the iPhone 14 would win serious brownie points from me if it had that feature.
The next iPhone will probably sell in crazy numbers like every year, but these two screen upgrades would go a long way towards making the iPhone 14 a worthy upgrade.
