Apple introduced 120Hz ProMotion technology with the iPhone 14 Pro lineup last year. The technology trickled down to the iPhone 15 Pro, which makes the entire user experience more fluid and smooth, especially when playing games that support 120fps. Apple allows iPhone 15 Pro users to scale down the refresh rate from 120Hz to 60Hz. It was previously speculated that doing so would enable the iPhone to save battery life. According to a new test, turning off 120Hz ProMotion on the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max has negligible impact on the battery life.
Hook your iPhone 15 Pro to a power source if you want to play games that support 120fps and save battery
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can dynamically adjust the refresh rate between 120Hz and 1Hz, allowing the device to save battery life. The variable refresh rate is beneficial with the Always-On display as it rests at 1Hz, showing time and widgets on the Lock Screen. According to Jason Cross from Macworld, giving up the 120Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 15 Pro is not worth it as it does not take a hit at the battery life.
Cross conducted Geekbench 4 tests to see if enabling and disabling the 120Hz ProMotion display would hurt the battery life of the flagship iPhones. There are some differences, but they are not significant enough to turn off one of the most appealing features of the iPhone 15 Pro. However, the battery on the iPhone 15 Pro would take a substantial hit if you are playing high-end games that support 120fps.
Shooters Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile support high refresh rates, as do games like Brawl Stars, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Genshin Impact, Alto’s Odyssey, and more. In most of these titles you have to open the in-game options to select a special 120fps or high frame rate mode.
Since there are countless variables, it is tough to conduct a scientific test on the impact of ProMotion on the iPhone's battery life. Cross also mentioned that battery usage dropped by almost half when the ProMotion feature was turned off while playing games on the device. This is because the device pushes the GPU to squeeze higher frame rates. Henceforth, ProMotion impacts the battery differently depending on your use case. Real-life tests revealed that the higher refresh rate has little to no effect on the battery life.
Roughly, the iPhone 15 Pro with ProMotion enabled takes 5 percent more battery life, which is nothing compared to the functionality you get in return. If you want to play games on your iPhone 15 Pro that supports higher refresh rates, it would be wise to hook your device to the power source or a power bank.
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