I like my smartphones vivid

Display brightness is not typically trumpeted from the hills when Apple, Google, Samsung, or one other firm places out a brand new telephone. However in fact, it is a type of particulars that is extraordinarily essential in apply — a telephone with weak brightness may be laborious to make use of indoors typically, by no means thoughts stepping out into the cruel noon glare. Once I was dwelling in Austin, a dim telephone was a professional annoyance on lengthy roadtrips, since there was no approach it might compete with cloudless Texas skies.

How vivid does a telephone have to be, although? Is holding your telephone at most brightness actually an issue? And what is the distinction between LCD and OLED? There are a variety of brightness-related particulars you must know earlier than shopping for a telephone, all of which I am going that will help you type out in a rush.

Associated

OLED vs mini-LED vs QLED in 2025: Which TV tech should you buy?

In the present day, you will get shocking picture high quality with out spending a fortune.

How brightness is measured, and the way a lot is sufficient

Telephone brightness 101

Whilst you might, in concept, charge telephone shows when it comes to lumens, you will virtually all the time see them gauged in nits. A single nit is equal to at least one candela (candlepower) per sq. meter. For a relative measure, think about that the solar at midday is normally claimed to provide 1.6 billion nits.

Your telephone does not have to be anyplace close to that vivid to be readable, in fact. Indoors, lower than 1,000 nits is ok, and even 500 nits tends to look fairly good. Peak brightness will briefly surge, although, each time a telephone is outdoor or displaying HDR (excessive dynamic vary) content material. For example, the Pixel 9 Pro can hit 2,000 nits when displaying HDR video, and three,000 nits at its absolute brightest.

That ought to provide you with a way of how a lot energy a contemporary telephone display screen wants. Most gadget makers are aiming for someplace between 1,000 and a couple of,000 nits for HDR features, and a couple of,000 nits or larger outdoor. My iPhone 16 Professional peaks at 2,000 exterior, and it is fairly readable even when the solar is thrashing down overhead.

Brighter is all the time higher, specs-wise, however something over 3,000 tends to be overkill, delivering diminishing returns. Not that that is stopped telephone makers — some Chinese language fashions are able to 4,000 nits or extra. In March 2025, Samsung demonstrated an OLED panel able to 5,000 nits.

Associated

5 display calibration settings that will level up your game for free

The show tech you employ for gaming can matter (virtually) as a lot because the system you are taking part in on.

LCD vs OLED vs different requirements

For as soon as, older tech wins

Most telephones now use some type of OLED show, an acronym standing for natural light-emitting diode. As a rule, it is the superior know-how, since particular person pixels may be turned on and off at will. The result’s a tremendous distinction, with pure blacks, and highlights that do not bleed into surrounding objects. The format additionally tends to be extra energy environment friendly if you happen to select darker icons, wallpapers, and app settings.

LCDs (liquid crystal shows) typically have the higher hand, nonetheless. That is as a result of all LCDs rely upon a number of backlights, which have a tendency to provide an total brighter picture, albeit on the expense of distinction. It is really inconceivable to realize true blacks with an LCD until it makes use of a number of backlights, and a picture space lined by a backlight occurs to be utterly devoid of element. That is why mini- and micro-LED had been invented — however you will not discover these applied sciences on any delivery smartphone, not less than not but.

The distinction hole does permit OLEDs to punch above their weight in uncooked nits. It is a query of perceived brightness — since each highlights and shadows are starker, OLED enables you to pick extra element. A 300-nit OLED panel can really feel roughly equal to a 500-nit LCD, although your mileage will range.

A couple of telephones eradicate brightness from the specs debate solely by utilizing e-ink. The pixels they use are made from actual matter, so their visibility relies on exterior gentle sources, a lot in the identical approach that you may’t learn a paper e-book in a pitch-black room. The built-in lamps you discover on e-ink gadgets are literally frontlights, not backlights.

Associated

This Android-powered e-ink tablet is better than a Kindle, but it’s still niche in my life

You will solely get essentially the most out of Boox’s pill if you happen to’re into sketching and paper notes.

What it’s essential to find out about brightness settings

No have to go full throttle

Apple / Pocket-lint

More often than not, it is best to keep away from ramping your telephone as much as full brightness, regardless of how spectacular it appears to be like. There are a number of causes for this — above all, your imaginative and prescient. Because the American Academy of Opthamology notes, full brightness can probably create pressure in some situations, leading to points like tearing (as in crying), blurring, dry eyes, and complications.

I do know from private expertise that at evening, vivid shows can disrupt sleep. They typically make it tougher to get to sleep within the first place, and within the center hours, lights can shine straight by your eyelids and wake you up. I do watch YouTube on a Nest Hub at bedtime — however its brightness is cranked as little as it is going to go until I am not anxious about my alarm. My iPhone, in the meantime, is all the time put in StandBy mode, which in a single day each dims the show and tints it pink.

When pressure and sleep patterns aren’t points, there’s nonetheless the matter of battery life. A telephone’s show is certainly one of its most power-hungry elements, rivaled solely by its processor and wi-fi radios. The upper a display screen’s brightness is, the extra energy it consumes, draining your battery. Certainly, that is one of many principal changes a telephone’s battery-saving/low-power mode makes.

Sometimes, the most effective compromise is to set your telephone’s brightness as little as it is going to go whereas nonetheless being nice to have a look at. My iPhone 16 Professional is normally set at round 50%, however chances are you’ll have to go larger or decrease than that relying in your gadget and preferences. Even dropping to 80% ought to make a significant distinction.

Does full brightness ever make sense? Personally, I have a tendency to order that for the sunniest of outside excursions, like a visit to Disney World, or a yard Texas cookout with my in-laws. However even then, my iPhone normally compensates sufficient robotically, making the thought moot.

You may additionally like

Everything you need to know about PEVs, or personal electric vehicles

You should utilize PEVs like e-bikes and scooters to discover, run errands, or velocity up your commute.