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OMGitsDaYisus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2016
38
2
Spain
With the release of iOS 13, a question came across my mind. I’m using an iPhone 6s Plus, which has an LCD display. I know that it won’t be able to turn off the black pixels, unlike other devices as iPhone X. However, does black pixels consume less power than others such as white?

It may be an obvious question, but some reviews show that battery performance doesn’t get enhanced at all in this particular version and device.

Has anyone experienced any battery improvement while using dark mode in iOS 13 vs light display in iOS 12?
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,100
1,962
With the release of iOS 13, a question came across my mind. I’m using an iPhone 6s Plus, which has an LCD display. I know that it won’t be able to turn off the black pixels, unlike other devices as iPhone X. However, does black pixels consume less power than others such as white?

It may be an obvious question, but some reviews show that battery performance doesn’t get enhanced at all in this particular version and device.

Has anyone experienced any battery improvement while using dark mode in iOS 13 vs light display in iOS 12?

No. Because LCDs use a backlight which is always on anyway.
 

nordique

macrumors 68000
Oct 12, 2014
1,996
1,607
With the release of iOS 13, a question came across my mind. I’m using an iPhone 6s Plus, which has an LCD display. I know that it won’t be able to turn off the black pixels, unlike other devices as iPhone X. However, does black pixels consume less power than others such as white?

It may be an obvious question, but some reviews show that battery performance doesn’t get enhanced at all in this particular version and device.

Has anyone experienced any battery improvement while using dark mode in iOS 13 vs light display in iOS 12?

No. It won’t change battery. That will only happen on oled screens


But it still looks fantastic on lcd
 
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Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,251
11,747
Not even on iPhone XS Max so yeah. I don’t think battery improvement is really a thing. Maybe the dark pixel amount on my screen does not reach the point where the battery saving start to become tangible.
 
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nordique

macrumors 68000
Oct 12, 2014
1,996
1,607
Not even on iPhone XS Max so yeah. I don’t think battery improvement is really a thing. Maybe the dark pixel amount on my screen does not reach the point where the battery saving start to become tangible.

It is 100% a thing

When you have the pixels turned off they are not drawing power

My iPhone X jail broken with noctis and eclipse in a pure oled “midnight” mode plus dark icons and my Apple Watch series 4, gets me to 60-70% battery by end of day. Long day, 40-50%

Before any dark modes, would be 20-30% by end of day with no Apple Watch and long day, need a top up.

A “day” is 6am until 7pm for me. Battery is essentially 1.5x to 2x longer. Now eclipse and noctis plus dark icons have much less greys than iOS 13 dark mode. But you will see battery savings especially if you have static black backgrounds for any period of time
 

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,751
4,576
Delaware
Is this explained by the fact that with an LCD screen, pixels, fully powered on, show black - and pixels off shows white.
The backlight remains on, so power continues to be used. A full white screen would use somewhat less power than all black.
 
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KeanosMagicHat

macrumors 68000
May 18, 2012
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I see the OP’s question answered above so he main benefit I find of using Dark Mode on an LCD screen (such as my XR) is the reduced eyestrain.

Personally I keep it on all the time.

Although I am looking forward to hopefully seeing an update during the beta process which ensures that Apple News articles are displayed with a dark background (as currently they are not).
 

OMGitsDaYisus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2016
38
2
Spain
Is this explained by the fact that with an LCD screen, pixels, fully powered on, show black - and pixels off shows white.
The backlight remains on, so power continues to be used. A full white screen would use somewhat less power than all black.
Wow! I would certainly think that generating black pixels in a LCD display would be less efficient than showing them in an OLED display (they're powered off, basically), but within the LCD pixel color range?? That was truly unexpected.
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I see the OP’s question answered above so he main benefit I find of using Dark Mode on an LCD screen (such as my XR) is the reduced eyestrain.

Personally I keep it on all the time.

Although I am looking forward to hopefully seeing an update during the beta process which ensures that Apple News articles are displayed with a dark background (as currently they are not).
Absolutely! I usually use Night Shift when reading at night, as well as the brownish style in Books to read during the day. My main concern was battery-life issues, as I don't get a satisfactory experience with it, and I thought iOS 13 could somehow reduce this problem.
 
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OMGitsDaYisus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2016
38
2
Spain
Now that I've downloaded iOS 13 beta, I can see there's a notable battery drain even with dark mode activated; although most of the apps I've used don't feature it. It may be that dark mode is only truly effective in OLED displays; and that betas should be fixing that quite remarkable battery drain via optimization. However, thank you all for your feedback and comments!
 
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