It’s been nearly a decade since the introduction of the first 120Hz ProMotion display, if you can believe that. It was one of the flagship features of the 2017 iPad Pro. However, all this time later – Apple still treats it as some form of luxury feature, and I feel like it’s holding them back.
I’ll give credit where credit is due. Apple finally added 120Hz to the base iPhone 17, four years after it was introduced on iPhone 13 Pro. That was a great change.
Loads of people will argue that 120Hz displays aren’t noticed by the “average consumer” unless you point it out to them. Even if that is true, it’s undeniable that a 120Hz display results in a smoother experience all around. The device feels faster and more responsive, even if the end user doesn’t know what’s causing it.
At the end of the day, Apple doesn’t make cheap products, barring a few exceptions like the base model iPad and potentially the upcoming budget MacBook. Why should the $599-799 iPad Air come with a 60Hz display when the $649 10.5″ iPad Pro offered 120Hz nearly a decade ago?
Apple’s mid-range products shouldn’t provide the bare minimum
iPad Air comes in at $599 for the base 11-inch version, or $799 for the base 13-inch version. iPad Pro comes in at $999 for the base 11-inch version, $1199 for the base 13-inch version. That’s a $400 price gap.
Realistically, that’s a price gap so large that very few people are truly cross shopping them. If there’s an iPad Pro feature you know you need, like the awesome Tandem OLED display or the latest Apple Silicon – then you’re probably going to buy an iPad Pro out the gate.
For most people though, they know their budget, and even if they appreciate 120Hz, it’s unlikely that they’ll choose to splurge for the iPad Pro for that reason alone. An extra $400 isn’t exactly light.
Maybe when there were much smaller price gaps, keeping small features exclusive to the Pro models made sense. For example, in 2022, the 11-inch iPad Pro was $799, vs $599 for the iPad Air.
Same is true for the MacBook Air. When the MacBook Air is $999, and the cheapest MacBook Pro is $1599, why should something like 120Hz be exclusive to the Pro model? Most reasonable people aren’t going to make a $600 jump just for that one feature, and ultimately, it’s not like $999 is a budget pricepoint.
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