PWN function for iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max – 120 Hertz for all
Apple has tweaked its OLEDs for the iPhone 17 and Air line. There is a new feature for Pro models, and the refresh rate is better across the board.
iPhone 17 Pro: Display improved once again.
(Image: Apple)
Apple's new iPhones come with some changes to the built-in screens, which have been positively received by market observers. However, these do not affect all models – as usual, the company makes a distinction between the Pro and standard devices. The new iPhone Air form factor is a middle ground: although Apple uses the high-end A19 Pro chip here (albeit with one GPU core less), the screen is based more on the standard iPhone 17 model, although it is 0.2 inches larger here (6.5 instead of 6.3).
Switch ensures less flickering
The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max now have a dedicated switch in iOS 26 that can be used to disable Pulse Width Modulation, or PWM for short. This can be found in the Screen and text size section of the Accessibility settings. When PWM is turned off, the OLED display is dimmed differently, which, according to Apple, enables a "softer screen output" at lower brightness levels. Users who find the regular OLED image too harsh due to a visual impairment or visual disease should try this setting.
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However, the manufacturer warns that this can result in "lower performance at low brightness", even if only under "certain conditions". PWM is used to switch the pixels on and off quickly, which also helps OLEDs display a very dark black. However, there are people who experience this as flickering (including headaches and eye pain) and therefore want to turn off the function. This is now possible for the first time with the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. Why it does not (yet?) work with the other two models remains unclear.
120 Hertz for all new iPhones
It is highly commendable that Apple is now equipping all iPhone 17 variants, including the iPhone Air, with "ProMotion" displays. These are screens whose refresh rate can be adjusted from 1 to 120 Hertz. This ensures smoother scrolling and gaming.
In addition, an always-on screen can be realized, which only needs to refresh once per second. Until now, this function was only available on the Pro models. In future, it will be a new iPhone standard.
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