According to the latest rumors, the next Apple iPhone 13 will finally have a 120 Hz display, but it will be in the new LTPO technology and will be produced by Samsung.
Displays with higher refresh rates than the traditional 60 Hz were expected by fans and insiders already in the iPhone 12 presented in October 2020. Apple, however, missed the appointment, postponing the debut of a feature that nowadays assumes an increasing importance.
The major Android top of the range presented so far have not renounced 120 Hz, among which there is obviously also Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. And it's curious the rumor circulating in the last few hours that - ironically - the rivals for antonomasia may end up using an almost identical component. The fact that on the iPhone 13 - probably only on the top versions Pro and Pro Max - there could be a display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz does not seem to be in dispute.
On iPhone 13 an all new display
The rumors circulated in recent hours suggest that on the iPhone 13 there will be a display produced by Samsung LTPO OLED type with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, then a screen with specifications overlapping - curiously but not too much - to those of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G.
It may sound strange to those who are not interested in technology on a daily basis that two competitors such as Apple and Samsung - the rivals par excellence of pocket technology - end up sharing a component, but in reality the collaboration between the Apple company and the Asian multinational has been in place for years, and it would not be the first display that Apple commissions from Samsung.
Samsung is responsible for the majority of the OLED displays that equipped Apple's iPhones in the past and continue to do so today, so for those in the know today's rumor coming from Korea doesn't sound strange at all: according to some estimates, 110 million of the displays used this year by Apple on the iPhone 12 and the upcoming iPhone 13 come from Samsung's own factories.
The benefits of the iPhone 13's LTPO OLED
It's interesting to note that Cupertino has once again chosen the best formula available for its smartphones. Non solo una frequenza di aggiornamento più elevata del solito – 120 Hz, quindi uno schermo capace di aggiornarsi 120 volte in un secondo – ma pure la tecnologia LTPO che, come evidenziato da Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G e dai competitor di pari livello, assicura sì una maggiore fluidità a fronte però di un impatto sull’autonomia tutto sommato trascurabile.
Gli OLED con tecnologia LTPO sono una novità nel mondo degli smartphone e come ogni tecnologia agli inizi implicano dei costi di produzione più elevati. Del resto però un OLED a 120 Hz tradizionale impatterebbe in modo importante sulla batteria, per cui la tecnologia LTPO diventa quasi imprescindibile per la diffusione di massa dei refresh rate elevati.
LTPO è l’acronimo di low-temperature polycrystalline oxide ed è di fatto un’evoluzione della tecnologia OLED, organic light emitting diode. Quindi tutti i display LTPO sono OLED, ma non tutti gli OLED sono LTPO. At least not for the moment, since when the production costs of LTPO will drop these should supplant the previous LTPS due to significantly lower power consumption and therefore positive repercussions on the autonomy of smartphones and company.
Products such as Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G or as the iPhone 13 are or will be anything but cheap, so the higher industrial costs arising from a recent and still expensive technology such as LTPO can be amortized on list prices certainly not popular.