Question on keeping brightness at 100% and using Extra Dim to lower it

K-Moss

One said when I asked about using brightness on 100% and dimming it using Apple's "reduce white point" feature (equivalent to Extra Dim on Android):

"I’ve not had any problems and I think changing the white point throughout the day preserves the battery life the same way if you just used the brightness settings and my iPhone 13 always gets through a full day on charge easily."

Does it make logical sense that the hardware functions as if on a lower brightness level except that brightness on the hardware is turned all the way up to absolutely minimize PWM?

Therefore, keeping brightness at 100% and using Reduce White Point Or Extra Dim is an effective OLED solution for many here?

Not too much extra strain is put on the OLED display nor on the battery, and this quite resolves the PWM issue for most sensitive users?

Sunspark

Running the OLED at 100% wears it out faster unfortunately. Not so with LCD.

K-Moss

Sunspark Yes, but how much faster? So it lasts 5 years without burn-in vs 8 years? It is plausible even at max brightness there's not much current going through a smartphone OLED so it is plausible running it at 100% or 50% isn't actually a big difference, which would explain why the user I quoted say they get a full day out of 1 charge despite running at 100% brightness.

Sunspark

It's not good for the display which degrades due to its organic nature. Pentile was invented because the blue and green pixels burnt out faster than the red ones.

I have already burnt in a section of my screen when it was left on all night. Thankfully it was only a small spot so I don't see it except with a certain background, but sucked. Wouldn't have happened with LCD.

K-Moss

Sunspark There is zero reason to leave on a phone screen ALL night. That's user error. What did you do to leave on your OLED at night on a single page? Isn't that like making a mistake with a chemical like bleach where misuse leads to unwanted effects? Phone screens should turn off automatically in under 5 minutes, so there is no opportunity for what you did. Beyond that, how bad really is the burn-in? I'm guessing it makes no difference to your day to day use of the device.

Sunspark

Some apps have a setting to leave the screen on and ignore the system timeout. Two of mine did. I've since asked the developers of both to change the default setting for that from on to off and both made the change.

It's not bad and doesn't make a difference no, but shouldn't have happened.

K-Moss

Sunspark "doesn't make a difference no."

My point remains. Burn in is not a legitimate concern in 2025. We need to focus on legitimate issues and not get distracted. With a smartphone, simply click the power button on the right to turn it off whenever you are finished using it. It should be instinctual. This is about knowing how to correctly use the device similar to driving lessons for driving a vehicle.