At PhoneArena, we have been testing and reviewing phones for more than two decades, and one of the things that makes our reviews special is our scientific testing method.
Each phone that we review goes through a number of display tests. We use professional display testing equipment and there is tremendous value in those results.
For example, having an independent and reliable testing method ensures users can check the brightness numbers of screens, an area where you can get easily confused by inflated brightness numbers provided by manufacturers.
Today, we are launching a new Display Test reference page, where you can apply sorting and filtering to easily compare your favorite devices, brands, or look at all devices for a particular year to get a grasp of the wider state of the industry.
Once you open the new Display Test results page, you will see a massive table with all of the phones we have tested.
Which phone has the highest brightness?
Look at the 20% APL number, we explain what it means below
By default, the phones with the highest brightness numbers appear first. Since most phones these days use OLED screens, we use the "20% APL" measurement as default. "20% APL" simply means that when we test the brightness, we have a white rectangle covering 20% of the phone display area, while the remaining 80% are black (for OLED, that means the pixels are turned off).
We also have another "100% APL" result where we load an all-white picture before we measure the max brightness. That is not the most accurate way to look at OLED brightness since many manufacturers use software limits when you have a predominantly white picture on the screen. Also, nobody looks at all white pictures anyway, which is why the "20% APL" brightness is the best way to see which OLED phone has the brightest display.
PhoneArena Display Test Results reference page
There are several other display measurements that you can see on this page:
Bright Min — the minimum brightness, or how dim the phone can get. The lower the number, the better. This is important when you use your phone at night in bed and you want the screen to be as dark as possible.
Color Temp — a color temperature of 6500K is considered to be a good target. Anything less than that appears too warm, and anything above it — too cold, or bluish.
Gamma — Correct gamma ensures shades of gray and colors match the levels intended by the media creator. Specifically, it shows how mid-tones appear. If the display's gamma is too low (e.g., 1.8), mid-tones look too bright and the image appears flat or "washed out". If the display's gamma is too high (e.g., 2.6), mid-tones look too dark, the image appears overly contrasty and saturated, and we have "crushed" blacks.
Delta E — a measurement for color accuracy. Delta stands for the deviation from a set of targets. Here, we have the deviation for grayscale shades and for colors. Again, the lower the number, the more accurate the colors of said display.
It turns out that the Pixel 9 Pro XL has the highest brightness of these four flagship phones, a very interesting thing to know.
At the same time, notice how the Pixel and the OnePlus 13 have much higher "min brightness" numbers, meaning they are not quite as comfortable to use in bed at night as the iPhone and the Galaxy.
Example: Mid-range Samsung phones
In the selection above, you can see how Samsung uses very similar displays in the Galaxy S24 FE, Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36, but the Galaxy A26 has a much lower brightness. This is a very useful reference for those wondering which affordable phone will work best for them.
Additionally, you can see slight improvements in display quality if you opt for the Galaxy S24 FE, like its more accurate color reproduction, indicated by lower delta E numbers (the lower these numbers, the more accurate colors are).
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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