iPhone 17 could get a display upgrade — but still be inferior to the iPhone 17 Pro

Display rumors for the iPhone 17 series have pointed to a major screen upgrade for the basic models this year. But leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo has made a new claim that makes us question how good this upgrade will actually be.

According to a translated version of his new post, DCS claims that the iPhone 17 series will have "high refresh rates across the board." However, in response to a commenter's question about the standard iPhone 17, DCS says to "lower your expectations appropriately," which is a caveat we've not seen in previous rumors.

We have heard for a while that the iPhone 17 will supposedly be the first non-Pro iPhone to get a 120Hz display. But based on what DCS is saying, the 120Hz screen of the iPhone 17 (and presumably the iPhone 17 Air) won't be the same as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max's version.

This could mean that the iPhone 17 won't get the more battery-efficient adaptive ProMotion refresh rate that the Pro models have.

Another option is that the iPhone 17 will get a display refresh rate increase, but to a lower number like 90Hz. That would offer some additional smoothness over current basic iPhones, but not as much as a Pro model.

Whatever does end up happening, it still sounds like the end of 60Hz iPhones is a lock. And it comes not a moment too soon considering how the vast majority of Android phones of all prices already moved to high refresh rate displays years ago.

The power within

The second part of Digital Chat Station's leak tells us about the power of the A19 Pro chip that's expected to drive the iPhone 17 Pro models.

The A19 Pro will apparently be a 3nm chipset like the A18 and A18 Pro chips inside the iPhone 16 series, but will score over 4,000 points on the Geekbench 6 single-core CPU benchmark, and over 10,000 on the multi-core version.

In our testing, the iPhone 16 Pro managed 3,400 and 8,391 on Geekbench 6, meaning the iPhone 17 Pro would see at least a 15% increase in power from the previous version if DCS' numbers are correct. This would also likely make the iPhone 17 Pro the most powerful phone on sale when it releases, although this title tends to trade back and forth between Apple and the latest Android flagship phones quickly.

For more on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, check our hubs for the latest leaks and tips. As for the software these phones will run, we know about that already - and you can read all about it in our WWDC 2025 and iOS 26 guides.

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