What’s a smartphone’s prime function? Taking photos? Making calls? Surfing the internet? Nah, all wrong. It’s to tell you the time. You could tell me it’s bullshit, but ask a bunch of people, “What’s the time?” and watch them pull out their devices to check. That’s just how a lot of people rely on their phones lately.
[Read: How Polestar is using blockchain to increase transparency]
The video notes that the iPhone 13 will have a 120Hz LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) display which will show you information such as time, battery level, and weather in the always-on mode.
Android phones have been doing this for a while, and Apple also did this with its Apple Watch 5 series. Because of OLED displays on iPhones, Apple could activate certain pixels while keeping the rest of the screen dimmed to display information.
I’m personally excited about this because I have this habit of tapping my iPhone display to look at the time or to see if I’ve received any notifications. With an always-on display, I wouldn’t need to do that and can avoid using the phone if I haven’t got any important alerts.
I really hope this feature makes it to the final version of the phone. Get to work, Tim Apple.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.