App developer Steve Troughton-Smith is citing code in the iOS 10.3 betas as support for a Bloomberg report last year of a 10.5-inch iPad with faster display rates.
I remain reasonably convinced that an iOS device screen refresh rate higher than 60Hz is possible this year pic.twitter.com/k9W4q8rxcm
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) March 22, 2017
The code he points to doesn’t give any clues to screen size, but does provide at least some evidence of future iPad models able to render frame rates faster than 60fps. The code represents the foundation of how iOS would allow app developers to run apps at variable frame rates; there is no explicit proof of >60 FPS devices in the betas.
The iPad Pro already accepts Apple Pencil input at 240 hertz, even thought the screen cannot update that fast. However, it seems like an inevitability that Apple would eventually increase screen refresh rates to enable even more responsive drawing and minimize lag.
Well-connected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first reported last summer that Apple plans a new iPad with a 10.5-inch display, Bloomberg later supporting this, with a number of subsequent reports backing the idea.
The KGI report was lent significant weight yesterday when one of its claims – that Apple would also introduce a new low-cost 9.7-inch iPad – was proven accurate. A third iPad in the works is said to be a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which also could benefit from a higher refresh rate display.
