The long-awaited ‘dark mode’ is now finally available in Apple’s latest operating system iOS 13. The usual light and bright appearance of iOS is replaced by a dark variant. Ideal for the OLED screens in the X, XS and 11 Pro devices.
PhoneBuff investigated and concluded that dark mode can be up to 30 percent more energy efficient. Dark mode was first available on Apple’s MacBook laptops, and now it’s the American tech giant’s turn for iPhones. According to Apple, the dark mode would be more economical, reason for PhoneBuff to investigate this.
The setup
Two iPhone XS, with an OLED screen, were brought into position. Both phones with a fully charged battery with one operating in light mode and the other in dark mode. The tasks performed included typing text messages, playing videos on YouTube, scrolling through social media and looking up locations via Google Maps.
What turned out?
When the battery of the iPhone XS in light mode was empty, the device with dark mode still had 30 percent left. At first sight a big difference, which PhoneBuff further nuances. The brightness during the test was set at 200 nits, where the difference was less pronounced at 100 nits. Furthermore, there are many apps that have not yet integrated the dark mode. Thus, the dark mode will not be much more economical for the average user.
Disable Pixels
OLED screens benefit most from the dark mode, or these screens can turn off the pixels that display black. The dark mode largely displays black pixels that are turned off on OLED screens, which improves the efficiency of the battery. LCD screens, like that of the regular iPhone 11, cannot do this. The pixels on these screens remain on, which costs energy.
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