Apple Vision Pro has 100Hz refresh rate to combat flickering lights

The Apple Vision Pro will be able to support frame rates of up to 100Hz, code references in the most recent developer beta for visionOS have revealed.

Apple's inbound mixed-reality headset was originally said by the company to offer a refresh rate of about 90Hz. If code references are correct, the built-in screens could go a lot higher than that.

References purportedly from the visionOS developer beta, uncovered by @M1Astra on X, mentions there are a variety of refresh rates at the upper end of the range. In images, there are mentions to refresh rate modes for 90Hz, 96Hz, and 100Hz.

Apple previously said in July that the displays inside the headset could update at 90Hz, though it could be pushed to 96Hz automatically when watching 24fps content. Now, the references indicate that 100Hz is also possible.

A note mentions "Adjusted to 100Hz to compensate for detected 50Hz flicker from artificial lighting," which would be in reference to European electrical systems that operate at 50Hz. This setting would minimize the flickering phenomena observed when using a mis-matched camera frame rate, such as when filming an environment with 50Hz lights using a 60Hz camera.

This is further backed up by another reference to "Passthrough_50Hz_Flicker_Detected".

Other references include "Exclude_Fan_Blur," "Low_Light_Detected," and a reduction to "half rate" due to "thermal mitigation" and a higher or lower display frequency.

When out and about, "Travel mode requires 90Hz at all times," which is probably to take advantage of natural light from the Sun.