ProMotion might be an iPhone 14 Pro, Pro Max-only feature after all

Iphone 13 Summary Hero (Image credit: Joseph Keller / iMore)

What you need to know

A previous report suggested that Apple would bring ProMotion support to all iPhone 14 models.
A new report by display analyst Ross Young says that the supplier of Apple's ProMotion displays can't meet the demand for all models.
ProMotion looks set to be offered on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max only.

Despite previous reports that ProMotion was coming to all iPhone 14 models, that now seems less likely.

According to display analyst Ross Young Apple will continue to keep ProMotion a Pro and Pro Max feature this time around — as it was with the iPhone 13 lineup — because the company that builds the ProMotion displays doesn't have the capacity to offer them across all of Apple's 2022 lineup. However, things could change next year.

No since BOE doesn’t have enough LTPO capacity and have yet to ship any LTPO panels. Would be quite risky. Maybe in 2023…No since BOE doesn’t have enough LTPO capacity and have yet to ship any LTPO panels. Would be quite risky. Maybe in 2023…— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 15, 2022 January 15, 2022

ProMotion was introduced with last year's iPhone 13 lineup and not only offers 120Hz refresh rates but also brings a variable refresh rate to iPhone as well. That allows iPhones to reduce their refresh rate when displaying static images, saving power and improving battery life in the process.

ProMotion is a feature that people have been crying out for and the high refresh/variable refresh rate combination has been offered by Android devices for some time. It seems likely that it is a feature that will only be available on Apple's high-end devices for the next year at least.

Last week saw analyst Jeff Pu suggest that Apple would be able to bring ProMotion to all four new iPhone 14 devices, but that now seems unlikely to be the case based on what Young has to say. ProMotion is one of the best iPhone features in terms of differentiating the higher-end models from the lower-end ones along with improved cameras.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.