Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18e will have the same display refresh rate as the existing iPhone 17e, according to a major Chinese leaker.
Discussing Apple’s product plans for 2027 in a Weibo post, Digital Chat Station claimed that Apple’s next generation of low-cost iPhones will feature the same 60Hz low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) TFT panel as the current model.
This means that the device will not benefit from the 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate and Always-On display technology that is expected to feature in the rest of the iPhone 18 lineup, similar to the iPhone 17 series.
This is despite the fact that you can find 120Hz displays on competing Android phones at similar prices to the iPhone 17e.
This claim is supported by a Korean report earlier this year that Apple would not use a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) panel until the fourth-generation model, which is expected to arrive in early 2028. Adopting LPTO would make the display technically capable of dynamically adjusting its refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz.
The change in 2028 would depend in part on Apple’s development of a next-generation “LTPO+” display technology, which integrates oxide semiconductors into the switching and driving transistors, and which would use significantly less battery power.
Apple reportedly plans to reserve LTPO+ for its high-end models in 2028, including new versions of the iPhone Air and its upcoming foldable iPhone, which would free up standard LTPO panels for the rest of the lineup. But if the new technology is not ready in time, it could delay the arrival of LPTO panels on the 19th, so nothing is certain yet.
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