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iPhone 16 brings welcome upgrades, but what’s up with that display?

By Abdullah Asim

Published: Sep 13, 2024, 3:03 PM

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Long before I got into writing about tech I used to be very particular about displays. Smartphones, monitors or TVs, you name it. A display, in my opinion, should be perfect: free of any flaws that ruin the immersion. Which is why, despite it being an excellent display in other regards, the 60 Hz refresh rate makes the iPhone 16 a hard pass for me.

Now, 60 Hz isn’t necessarily terrible. It works just fine for computers and PC gaming, but higher refresh rates on smartphones have utterly spoiled me and I can never go back. If a phone’s display has a refresh rate less than 90 Hz my eyes can very happily do without ever seeing it.

A phone display is much more intimate

Swiping up in 60 Hz hurts my eyes. | Image credit — Apple

Unlike a PC monitor or a TV a phone’s display is something you get quite close with during your use, literally. It is imperative that the phone responds as fast as it can when you swipe, tap or carry out another action. Every smartphone review ever — like our iPhone 15 Pro Max review — mentions performance in some way or another.

And you know what completely ruins the illusion of a fast smartphone? A display that makes it look like you’re watching a slideshow. I’m not exaggerating either: my eyes almost hurt when I have to use a 60 Hz phone display. It’s just one of those things you can’t go back to after having spent some time using a better alternative.

60 Hz holds back the other upgrades

60 Hz cowboy shrimp just isn't good enough. | Image credit — Apple

Both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are looking like prime candidates for our list of the best phones you can buy today. Apple has reportedly upgraded each of the phones to 8 GB of RAM so that they can power Apple Intelligence. The new camera button and gorgeous colors are also very welcome changes. And let’s not forget that we also get the latest of Apple Silicon.

But you see the results of all this power on a 60 Hz screen. A beautiful screen, yes, but a slow one. People on online forums are fuming, some even calling a 60 Hz display at this price point (starting at $799) comical. Others are going so far as to say that Apple did this so consumers would splurge more for a Pro model and its higher refresh rate.

I don’t want to be brazen and claim that a 60 Hz display is a deal-breaker for everyone. In fact, many of you reading this probably don’t even care in the slightest. But clearly a large subset of the user base is upset, and I completely understand why.

On the one hand you’ve got a phone powered by AI and capable of shooting professional-level footage, on the other your eyes can physically register the lag when you swipe. It’s a jarring juxtaposition.

What Apple could have and should have done

Apple products have this image of being luxury items in many countries. Where I live, for example, the taxes on Apple devices make them exclusive to the richest people. But if Apple doesn’t want Android users ridiculing their devices they should have at least made the iPhone 16 display 90 Hz.

The jump from 90 Hz to 120 Hz often doesn’t feel too significant but going from 60 Hz up to 90 Hz is amazing. I believe 90 Hz should be the bare minimum for smartphone displays today. Even budget Chinese phones at one-third the cost of an iPhone 16 come with 90 Hz displays nowadays.

That clearly indicates it isn’t too expensive to update older displays to smoother ones. Sure, iPhone displays are more color-accurate and have higher resolutions, but I highly doubt Apple would be hurting for money manufacturing 90 Hz smartphones.

Coupled with the regional differences…no thanks

EU Siri could never. | Image credit — Apple

If it was just a low refresh rate I could still see the iPhone 16 being an easy recommendation, but it’s not just an outdated display. I’ve been calling this the most fragmented iPhone launch in history for a reason.

AI seems to be the only reason worth buying an iPhone 16, but both the EU and China aren’t getting it. Instead, the EU is getting an iPhone that supports third party NFC payments, alternate app stores and the removal of Apple’s default apps. Handy, but hardly anything to choose an iPhone for.

It doesn’t help that Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman says Apple Intelligence is underwhelming compared to Gemini. I’m sure that’ll change with time but, for now at least, the iPhone 16 seems to be a very forgettable upgrade.

But I’ll hold out hope for that iPhone 17 Air we might be getting next year. That sounds sick.

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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.