In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman endorses the possibility of the iPhone 13 bringing a feature users have been waiting for since OLED screens debuted on the iPhone X: an always-on display.
After dishing out details about a redesigned iPad Mini in the previous edition of his newsletter, Gurman turns his attention to the iPhone 13 this week, saying (via 9to5Mac):
Expect a faster A15 chip, smaller notch, a new display for better battery life and the potential of an Apple Watch-like always on mode and a 120Hz refresh rate and upgrades to video recording.
Apple’s A15 chip went into mass production back in May, all leaks so far have depicted smaller notches on this year’s iPhones, and at least some of the 2021 iPhones are expected to feature a 120Hz ProMotion display, with next year’s entire lineup making the jump to a higher refresh rate.
An always-on display similar to that of the Apple Watch Series 5 and later has been heavily speculated for the iPhone 13, allowing users to have important information such as date, time, weather, and recent notifications readily (and power-efficiently) available on their screens without having to wake their iPhones up.
The iPhone maker also seems to have a lot of confidence in the iPhone 13, as production has been upped by 20% (from 75 million units for the iPhone 12 to 90 million units for this year’s iPhone).
Optimizing battery life and using a more power-efficient display will become even more important with the addition of an always-on display, especially given Apple’s recently-developed penchant to launch iPhones with smaller batteries than their predecessors.
All reports point to the iPhone 13’s launch following Apple’s usual schedule, so we should see the next iPhone in roughly two months from now.
