I like my smartphones brilliant

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

How brilliant does a cellphone have to be, although? Is retaining your cellphone 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 cellphone, 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?

At the moment, 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

When you might, in concept, fee cellphone shows by way of lumens, you may 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 often claimed to supply 1.6 billion nits.

Your cellphone does not have to be anyplace close to that brilliant to be readable, in fact. Indoors, lower than 1,000 nits is okay, and even 500 nits tends to look fairly good. Peak brightness will briefly surge, although, each time a cellphone is outside 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 cellphone display screen wants. Most gadget makers are aiming for someplace between 1,000 and a couple of,000 nits for HDR capabilities, and a couple of,000 nits or larger outside. 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 cellphone 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 utilize for gaming can matter (virtually) as a lot because the system you are enjoying 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 expertise, since particular person pixels might be turned on and off at will. The result’s an incredible distinction, with pure blacks, and highlights that do not bleed into surrounding objects. The format additionally tends to be extra energy environment friendly in case you select darker icons, wallpapers, and app settings.

LCDs (liquid crystal shows) generally have the higher hand, nevertheless. That is as a result of all LCDs rely on a number of backlights, which have a tendency to supply an total brighter picture, albeit on the expense of distinction. It is truly inconceivable to realize true blacks with an LCD until it makes use of a number of backlights, and a picture space coated by a backlight occurs to be utterly devoid of element. That is why mini- and micro-LED have been invented — however you will not discover these applied sciences on any transport smartphone, a minimum of 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 helps you to select extra element. A 300-nit OLED panel can really feel roughly equal to a 500-nit LCD, although your mileage will fluctuate.

Just a few telephones get rid of brightness from the specs debate fully by utilizing e-ink. The pixels they use are product of actual matter, so their visibility depends on exterior mild sources, a lot in the identical means that you may’t learn a paper guide in a pitch-black room. The built-in lamps you discover on e-ink units 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 may solely get probably the most out of Boox’s pill in case you’re into sketching and paper notes.

What it is advisable learn about brightness settings

No must go full throttle

Apple / Pocket-lint

More often than not, it is best to keep away from ramping your cellphone as much as full brightness, irrespective of how spectacular it seems to be. There are a number of causes for this — above all, your imaginative and prescient. Because the American Academy of Opthamology notes, full brightness can doubtlessly 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, brilliant 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 should go until I am not frightened 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 purple.

When pressure and sleep patterns aren’t points, there’s nonetheless the matter of battery life. A cellphone’s show is one in every 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 essential changes a cellphone’s battery-saving/low-power mode makes.

Usually, one of the best compromise is to set your cellphone’s brightness as little as it should go whereas nonetheless being nice to have a look at. My iPhone 16 Professional is often set at round 50%, however chances are you’ll must 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 often compensates sufficient routinely, making the concept moot.

You may also like

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

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