Iphone 16 Pro with iOS 26.2 stuttering / low refresh rate after brightness changes

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing a strange ProMotion behavior on my iPhone 16 Pro.

Sometimes, especially after a sudden change in ambient light (for example taking the phone out of my pocket or moving from dark to bright environments), the UI feels like it’s running at ~60–90Hz instead of 120Hz. Scrolling becomes noticeably less smooth.

What’s interesting is that:

• Low Power Mode is off
• Limit Frame Rate is off
• Adaptive Power / True Tone / AOD don’t change the behavior
• The issue happens intermittently, not all the time

Workaround:

If I open the Camera app and immediately close it, the UI goes back to full smoothness instantly (as if ProMotion resets to 120Hz).

I’ve already:

• Updated to the latest iOS version (iOS 26.2)
• Backed up the phone
• Fully erased it
• Restored from an encrypted Mac backup

The issue still happens, even right after restoring, usually after pocket → screen on.

This makes me think it’s a software state bug where iOS sometimes gets “stuck” in a low refresh rate mode and doesn’t exit it properly, until the Camera forces a display pipeline reset.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any insight would be appreciated.