iPhone 12 Pro Max OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out
Dr. Raymond M. Soneira
President, DisplayMate Technologies
Corporation
Copyright © 1990-2020 by DisplayMate
Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
This article, or any part
thereof, may not be copied, reproduced, mirrored, distributed or incorporated
into any other work without
the prior written permission of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation
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iPhone 12 Pro Max
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Introduction and Overview
The key element for a great
Smartphone has always been a truly innovative and top performing display, and
the best leading edge Smartphones have always flaunted their super high tech
displays. It is the display performance that determines how good and how
beautiful everything on the Smartphone looks, including the camera photos,
videos, movies, web content, plus all of your Apps, and also how readable and
how usable the screen is in high ambient lighting. The Display is the crown
jewel of the Smartphone!
In this Display Technology Shoot-Out article series we only
cover the Very Best State-of-the-Art Top Performing and Top Tier Smartphone
Displays. The articles are designed to promote Display Performance so that
consumers, reviewers, and journalists all recognize and appreciate Display
Excellence, and also to reward and encourage manufacturers to produce top
performing displays for their products.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is Apple’s fourth generation Flagship Smartphone, with an
OLED display that follows the highly acclaimed third generation iPhone 11 Pro Max.
In this article we lab test, measure, analyze, and evaluate in depth the
display on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. This is
an independent scientific objective lab test and analysis of OLED displays
written for consumers and journalists. It is the latest edition in our ten year
article series that has lab tested, tracked and analyzed the development of
mobile OLED displays and display technology, from its early beginnings in 2010,
when OLED displays started out in last place, into a rapidly improving and evolving
display technology that now has a commanding first place lead and continues
pushing ahead aggressively.
We’ll cover all of the these display performance topics and much more,
with in-depth comprehensive display tests, measurements, and analysis that you
will find nowhere else.
The Move to OLED Displays
LCDs are a great cutting edge high performance display technology for
Tablets to TVs, but for small handheld Smartphones, OLED displays provide a
number of significant advantages over LCDs including: being much thinner, much
lighter, without needing a bezel providing a rimless edge-to-edge design. They
can be made flexible and into curved screens, plus they have a very fast
response time, better viewing angles, and an always-on display mode.
Many of the OLED performance advantages result from the fact that every
single sub-pixel in an OLED display is independently directly electrically
powered to emit light, so only the active image sub-pixels draw power based on
their individual brightness levels. OLEDs can also provide better color
accuracy, image contrast accuracy, and screen uniformity because the
irregularities and variations in LCD Backlights introduce color and brightness
irregularities and variations over the screen.
As the result of their very versatile power management capabilities,
OLEDs are not only more power efficient than LCDs for most image content, but
they now deliver much higher Peak Brightness than LCDs because the maximum
power can be delivered to just the sub-pixels that are needed for producing the
current image. However, for mostly all white screen content LCDs are likely to
remain brighter and more power efficient for a while.
OLED displays now have tremendous performance advantages over LCDs, so
high-end and flagship Smartphones need OLED displays in order to compete at
state-of-the-art performance levels, securing OLED as the definitive premier
display technology for Top Tier Smartphones in the foreseeable future over the
next 3-5 years. With the continuing improvements in OLED hardware performance,
picture quality, and precision accuracy, it will be much harder for new display
technologies to challenge OLED.
Article Overview
This article has the following major sections:
· iPhone 12 Pro
Max Highlights and Performance Results
· iPhone 12 Pro Max
Conclusions
· iPhone
12 Pro Display Performance Functions and Features
· iPhone 12
Pro Max Display Performance Records
· DisplayMate
Best Smartphone Display Award
· Improving
Display Performance for Real World Ambient Light
· Improving
the Next Generation of Mobile Displays
· iPhone 12 Pro Max
Lab Measurements and Comparison Table
The Display Shoot-Out
To examine the
performance of the new iPhone 12 Pro Max OLED Display
we ran our in-depth series of Mobile
Display Technology Shoot-Out Lab tests and measurements in order to
determine how the latest OLED displays have improved. We take display quality
very seriously and provide in-depth objective analysis based on detailed laboratory
tests and measurements and extensive viewing tests with both test patterns,
test images and test photos. To see how far OLED and LCD mobile displays have
progressed in just ten years see our 2010 Smartphone
Display Shoot-Out, and for a real history lesson see our original 2006 Smartphone Display
Shoot-Out.
Apple provided DisplayMate Technologies with a retail unit of the iPhone
12 Pro Max so that we could perform our well known objective and comprehensive
DisplayMate Lab tests, measurements, and analysis, explaining in-depth the new
display performance results for consumers, reviewers, and journalists as early as
possible.
iPhone 12 Pro Max Highlights and Performance
Results
In this section we review and explain the principal
results from the extensive DisplayMate Lab Tests and Measurements
in the following categories: Display
Specifications, Overall Assessments, Screen Reflections, Brightness
and Contrast,
Colors and Intensities,
Absolute Color Accuracy, Viewing Angles, OLED Spectra,
Display Power.
Lab Tests and Measurement
Data Table
See the Display Shoot-Out Lab
Measurements Comparison Table for the complete set of DisplayMate Lab Tests
and Measurements.
Main Topics Covered
This Highlights and Performance
Results section has detailed information and analysis on the iPhone 12 Pro Max display for the main topics listed
below.
You can skip this section and go directly to the iPhone 12 Pro Max Conclusions for a Summary of the
Display Test Results.
· Large 6.7 inch Full Screen Display
· 2.8K High Resolution Display
· Industry Standard Color Gamuts
· Automatic Color Management
· Very High Absolute Color Accuracy
· Very High Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale Accuracy
· Color Accuracy and Intensity Scales Independent of APL
· High Screen Brightness and Performance in High Ambient
Light
· High
Dynamic Range Mobile HDR Display
· Night Shift Mode for Better Night Viewing
· Dark Mode
· True Tone Viewing Mode
· Diamond Sub-Pixels
· Viewing Angle Performance
· Viewing Tests Performance
· Display Power Efficiency
· Display Related Enhancements
· Large 6.7 inch Full Screen Display with a Aspect Ratio of
19.5 : 9
The iPhone 12 Pro Max
has a large 6.7 inch full screen display that fills
almost the entire front face of the phone from edge-to-edge. The Full Screen
narrow bezel design on the iPhone 12 Pro Max results in a 7% larger Display
Screen Area than the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
The display has a higher form factor with a height to width Aspect Ratio of 19.5 : 9 = 2.16,
which is 22% larger than the 16 : 9 = 1.78 on most Smartphones (and
widescreen TVs) because the display now has the same overall shape as the
entire phone. It is taller in Portrait mode and wider in Landscape mode. This
provides extra space for Notifications and for displaying multiple Apps and
content simultaneously on-screen side-by-side.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max display has the standard 60 Hz Refresh Rate, rather
than the higher 90 Hz and 120 Hz Refresh Rates now being introduced. With the
very fast Response Time of the OLED display, and the very fast CPU and GPU
processors on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the lower 60 Hz Refresh Rate should be
fine for most applications.
The very top of the screen has a Black 0.2” high (5 mm) Slot cutout area from the
display that holds the front facing camera, ambient light and proximity
sensors, the ear speaker and other sensors. It’s noticeable but easy to get
used to because it takes up just 1.6% of the total Screen Area. The left and
right tabs on either side of the Slot are typically used to show App data that
would otherwise need to be shown in the primary display area.
· 2.8K High Resolution Full HD+ 2778x1284 Display with 458
pixels per inch
As a result of its larger display size and Aspect Ratio,
the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 2.8K High Resolution Full
HD+ display with 2778x1284 pixels and 458 pixels per inch, with 3.6 Mega Pixels, 72% more
than an HDTV. The display has Diamond Sub-Pixels
(see below) and Sub-Pixel Rendering with 458
pixels per inch (ppi), providing significantly higher image sharpness than can
be resolved with normal 20/20 Vision at the typical viewing distances of 12
inches or more for Smartphones, so the display appears perfectly sharp. As a result, for Smartphones it is absolutely pointless to
further increase the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi) up to 4K
(3940x2160 pixels) for a silly marketing wild goose chase into the
stratosphere, with no visual benefit for humans!
· Industry Standard
Color Gamuts
The iPhone 12 Pro Max supports the two most important Industry Standard Color Gamuts: the sRGB / Rec.709 Color
Gamut that is used for most current consumer
content, and the new Wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut that is used in 4K Ultra HD TVs. The DCI-P3 Gamut is
26 percent larger than the sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut. But Automatic Color Management
provides many more Gamuts...
· Automatic Color Management
Most Smartphones and Tablets generally provide only one
to up to several fixed Color Gamuts. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has Automatic Color Management that automatically
switches to the proper Color Gamut for any displayed image content within the
Wide DCI-P3 Color Space that has an ICC Profile, so images automatically appear
with the correct colors, neither over-saturated or under-saturated. Automatic Color Management with multiple and varying Color
Gamuts are a very useful and important state-of-the-art capability that all
manufacturers will need to provide in the future.
· Very High Absolute Color
Accuracy
Delivering great color with high Absolute Color Accuracy
is incredibly difficult because everything on the display has to be done just
right. In order to deliver accurate image colors, a display needs to closely
match the standard Color Gamut that was used for producing the content being
viewed – not more and not less. In addition the display also needs an accurate
(pure logarithmic power-law) Intensity
Scale, and an accurate White Point.
Each iPhone 12 Pro Max display
is individually calibrated at the factory for both Color Accuracy and Contrast
Accuracy. Since the iPhone 12 Pro Max supports two Standard Color Gamuts
it needs to also implement Color Management in order to get the second smaller
sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut to also appear correctly, which is generated from the
wider native DCI-P3 Gamut.
The Absolute Color Accuracy
of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is Truly Impressive as
shown in these Figures.
It has an Absolute Color Accuracy of 0.9 JNCD
(Just Noticeable Color Difference) for the sRGB / Red.709 Color Gamut that is
used for most current consumer content, and 0.9 JNCD
for the Wider DCI-P3 Color Gamut that is used for 4K UHD TVs and Digital
Cinema, which are both Visually Indistinguishable From
Perfect, and very likely considerably better than any mobile display,
monitor, TV or UHD TV that you have.
Note that to obtain this High Absolute Color Accuracy
both True Tone and Night
Shift need to be Off because they change
the White Point of the display from the 6500 K Standard, which then changes the
Absolute Color Accuracy throughout the Color Gamut. See this Figure for an explanation
and visual definition of Just Noticeable Color Difference JNCD and the Color Accuracy Plots with
41 Reference Colors showing the measured display
Color Errors. See the Color Accuracy section and
the Color Accuracy Plots
for measurements and details.
· Very High Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale Accuracy
The
Intensity Scale (sometimes called the Gray Scale) not only controls the Image
and Picture Contrast within all displayed images but it also controls how the
Red, Green and Blue primary colors mix to produce all of the on-screen colors.
So if the Intensity Scale doesn't accurately follow the Standard that is used
to produce virtually all consumer content then the Image Colors, Image
Contrast, and their Brightness Intensities will be wrong everywhere in all
images. Unfortunately, many manufacturers are quite sloppy with the Intensity
Scale on their displays (because it is logarithmic and not linear).
Fortunately, the Intensity Scale on iPhone 12 Pro Max is a close to perfect
match of the Intensity Scale Standard, which is essential for High Absolute
Color Accuracy. See Figure 3 for a plot of the
measured Intensity Scale and the Contrast and Intensity Scale section for measurements and details.
· Color Accuracy and Intensity Scales that are Independent of
the on-screen Image Content APL
The Absolute Color Accuracy and Intensity Scale of the
display should not change as the on-screen image content changes.
With the continuing improvements in display performance
we have added a new set of advanced tests that measure the variations in the
Absolute Color Accuracy and the Intensity Scales with changing Average Picture Level APL,
comparing the Color Shifts and Intensity Scales between Low APL and 50% High
APL. Previous generation displays with large Peak Luminance changes with APL
will show large Shifts in the Intensity Scale and large Shifts in Absolute
Color Accuracy with APL.
Figure
3 shows the variation in the Intensity Scales between Low APL and 50% APL.
Any change in the Intensity Scale will affect the Absolute Color Accuracy. For
the iPhone 12 Pro Max there is just a tiny Shift in the Intensity Scales with
APL, with a measured Gamma of 2.19 for both Low APL
and 50% APL. As a result, the Image Contrast remains unchanged with
varying APL content.
Figure
4 shows the variation in the Absolute Color Accuracy between Low APL and
50% APL. The Color Shifts with APL are very small, with an Average Color Shift of just 0.2 JNCD, and the Largest Color Shifts are only 0.6 JNCD. The White Point Shifts with APL are just 0.2 JNCD.
All of the Shifts with APL are small, Visually
Indistinguishable, and rated Excellent. See this Figure for an explanation
and visual definition of JNCD and the Color APL Shifts section for measurements and details.
· High Screen Brightness and Performance in High Ambient Light
Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright
ambient lighting, which washes out the image color saturation and contrast,
reducing picture quality and making it harder to view or read the screen. To be
usable in high ambient light a display needs a dual combination of high Screen Brightness and low Screen
Reflectance – the iPhone 12 Pro Max has both. This is extremely important
for screen readability, picture quality, and color accuracy in ambient light.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max
has a Record calibrated Full
White Screen Brightness of 825 nits for the sRGB/Rec.709 and DCI-P3 Color Gamuts. The
Screen Brightness changes by less than 1 percent with changes in Average
Picture Level APL, which is very important and very impressive. See the Screen Brightness section for the measurements and
details.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max comes
with Auto-Brightness turned On, which
automatically changes the display Brightness based on the current level of
ambient light measured by a sensor near the top of the phone. This provides
longer running time on battery than Manually adjusting the Brightness Slider
yourself when Auto-Brightness is Off.
The measured iPhone 12 Pro Max Screen
Reflectance is 4.8 percent, slightly higher than the 4.5 percent on the
iPhone 11 Pro Max, but still close to the lowest that we have ever measured for
a Smartphone.
Our Contrast Rating for High
Ambient Light quantitatively measures screen visibility and image
contrast under bright Ambient Lighting – the higher the better. As a result of
its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a Contrast Rating
for High Ambient Light of 172, among the highest that
we have ever measured for the Calibrated Display Modes on a Smartphone.
See the Screen Reflectance section for the
measurements and details.
· HDR High Dynamic Range Mobile HDR Display
The iPhone 12 Pro Max provides High Dynamic Range Mobile HDR, with support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision,
which allows it to play 4K High Dynamic Range content made for 4K UHD TVs. High Dynamic
Range (HDR) is the newest performance
enhancement feature developed for the latest 4K Ultra HD TVs. HDR provides
expanded the Color, Contrast, and Brightness of video content. The display also
supports HDR camera photos. In order to provide Mobile HDR, the iPhone 12 Pro
Max has the required Digital Cinema DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut, High Peak
Luminance, plus perfect Blacks and an Infinite Contrast Ratio from its OLED
display. The HDR Peak Brightness is 1,200 nits.
· Night Shift Mode for Better Night Viewing
The Night Shift mode on the iPhone 12 Pro Max is designed
to change the color balance of the display in order to reduce the amount of
Blue light produced by the display, which some recent research indicates can
affect how well users sleep afterwards. In a separate article we
explain and analyze the Blue Light issue for displays. The iPhone 12 Pro Max
includes a user adjustable slider to vary the amount of Blue light produced by
the display, and a timer that allows the Night Shift to be turned on and off
automatically every day. The measured variation in the display light spectrum
with the adjustable Night Shift slider is shown in this Figure and
below.
As the Night Shift
slider setting is increased, the amount of Blue light emitted by the display
decreases. When that happens, White and all screen colors take on an increasing
yellowish tint and color cast. At the Middle setting
the measured White Color Temperature decreases to 4,000
K, and at the Maximum setting it
decreases to 2,600 K, the Color Temperature of
traditional incandescent lighting, which is yellowish. With Night Shift at its
Maximum setting, the measured Blue Light component from the iPhone 12 Pro Max is reduced by 80 percent. Turning
down the screen Brightness will further decrease the amount of Blue Light.
Note that as Night
Shift changes the White Point of the display from the 6500 K Standard, the
Absolute Color Accuracy throughout the entire Color Gamut is affected and
reduced. The measured display spectra for several of
the Night Shift settings
are included in this Figure and
below.
· Super Dim Setting
The iPhone 12 Pro Max also has a Super
Dim Setting that allows the Maximum Screen Brightness to be set all the
way down to just 2 cd/m2 (nits)
using the Brightness Slider. This is perfect for night use on a beside table,
and useful for working comfortably without eye strain or bothering others in
very dark environments, or affecting the eye’s dark adaptation, such as when
using a telescope. The display still provides full 24-bit color and the picture
quality remains excellent.
· Dark Mode
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a Dark
Mode display setting that inverts the typical White Background with
Black Text to a Black Background with White Text. This significantly reduces
the overall Brightness of the entire display for most applications, and should
reduce eye strain when viewing the display in low to dark ambient light. An
additional bonus is that switching to a Black Background will in most cases
significantly reduce the battery power used by the OLED display.
· True Tone Viewing Mode
The True Tone viewing mode
automatically changes the White Point and color balance of the display based on
real-time measurements of the Ambient Light falling on the screen. The idea is
to make the display behave more like paper reflecting ambient light and taking
on its color. It is implemented with an Ambient Light Sensor that measures the
Color of the Ambient Light in addition to its Brightness. Note that as the
display White Point changes from the 6500 K Standard the Absolute Color
Accuracy throughout the entire Color Gamut is affected and reduced.
· Diamond Sub-Pixels
A
high resolution screen shot obtained with an optical microscope camera
shows a Diamond shaped layout for the Sub-Pixels on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. This
Diamond Sub-Pixel layout is used on many OLED displays. On the iPhone 12 Pro
Max the resulting Sub-Pixel fill factor is much higher than other OLEDs, which
is a key factor in providing the much higher Peak Luminance of over 800 nits.
The Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels have very different
sizes -- Blue is by far the largest because it has the lowest light emission
efficiency, and Green is by far the smallest because it has the highest
efficiency. The alternating Red and Blue sub-pixel arrangement leads to a 45
degree diagonal symmetry in the sub-pixel layout. This allows vertical,
horizontal, and particularly diagonal line segments and vectors to be drawn
with reduced aliasing and artifacts. In order to maximize the sub-pixel packing
and achieve the highest possible pixels per inch (ppi), that leads to a Diamond
rather than Square or Striped arrangement of the Sub-Pixels. It's a form of
high-tech display art...
· Viewing Angle Performance
While Smartphones are
primarily single viewer devices, the variation in display performance with
viewing angle is still very important because single viewers frequently hold
the display at a variety of viewing angles. The angle is often up to 30
degrees, more if the phone is resting on a table or desk.
While LCDs typically
experience a 55 percent or greater decrease in Brightness at a 30 degree
Viewing Angle, the OLED iPhone 12 Pro Max display shows a much smaller 27
percent decrease in Brightness at 30 degrees. This also applies to multiple
side-by-side viewers as well, and is a significant advantage of OLED displays.
All
displays have Color Shifts with Viewing Angle
OLED displays generally
have smaller Color Shifts with Viewing Angle than most LCDs (except for IPS and
FFS based LCD displays). For OLEDs the Color Shifts with Viewing Angle result
primarily from the Cavity Effect that that is
used to increase the Brightness efficiency of the display. The Color Shifts
throughout the Color Gamut then vary as combinations of the Primary Red, Green,
and Blue Color Shifts.
The Color Shift of White, which is the most common
background color is particularly noticeable on many OLED and LCD displays.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has
a relatively small White Shift of 2.4 JNCD at 30
degrees, which is unlikely to be noticeable for typical Viewing Angles.
The Color Shifts
throughout the entire Color Gamut vary as combinations of the Primary Color
Shifts.
The Color Shift for the Green Primary is 2.7 JNCD at
30 degrees, which is unlikely to be
noticeable for typical Viewing Angles.
The Color Shifts for the Red and Blue Primaries are 4.8 to 4.9 JNCD, which are
both somewhat larger than the 3.5 JNCD needed
for a Very Good Green
rating, and may be noticeable for some color content but not objectionable.
See the Viewing Angles section for the measurements and
details.
· Viewing Tests Performance
The iPhone 12 Pro Max provides very nice, pleasing and
very accurate colors and picture quality. Although the Image Contrast is
slightly too high (due to a slightly too steep Intensity Scale), the very
challenging set of DisplayMate Test and Calibration Photos that we use to
evaluate picture quality looked absolutely stunning
and Beautiful, even to my experienced hyper-critical eyes.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max excels due to its impressive
Absolute Color Accuracy (0.9 JNCD), which is Visually
Indistinguishable from Perfect, and is very likely considerably better
than any mobile display, monitor, TV or UHD TV that you have. So photos,
videos, and online content and merchandise will appear correct and beautiful.
See the Color Accuracy
Figures and the Colors and Intensities
section for quantitative details.
· Display Power Efficiency
The Display’s Power Efficiency is extremely important for
Battery Running Time because the display can use up to 80%
of the Total iPhone Power for an all White Screen at the Maximum
Brightness setting. For the iPhone 12 Pro Max the Display Power Efficiency has increased by up to 10% compared to the iPhone 11
Pro Max.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max comes with Auto-Brightness
turned On, which automatically changes the display Brightness based on
the current level of ambient light measured by a sensor near the top of the
phone. This provides longer running time on battery than Manually adjusting the
Brightness Slider yourself when Auto-Brightness is Off.
While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with
mostly full screen white content (like all text screens on a white background,
for example), OLEDs are more power efficient for typical mixed image content
because they are emissive displays so their power varies with the Average
Picture Level (average Brightness) of the image content over the entire screen.
For OLEDs, Black pixels and sub-pixels don’t use any power so screens with
Black or dark backgrounds are very power efficient for OLEDs. For LCDs the
display power is fixed and independent of image content. Currently, OLED
displays are more power efficient than LCDs for Average Pictures Levels of 70
percent or less, and LCDs are more power efficient for Average Picture Levels
above 70 percent. Since both technologies are continuing to improve their power
efficiencies, the crossover will continue to change with time.
See the Display Power section
for the measurements and details.
· Display Related Enhancements
· The iPhone 12 Pro Max is IP68
water resistant in up to 6 meters (19.7 feet) of water for up to half an hour,
which means you can comfortably view the display in typical wet indoor and
outdoor conditions – even carefully use it in a tub or shower, and it should be
fine if you accidentally drop it in a sink or toilet.
· The iPhone 12 Pro Max can be used
with Polarized Sunglasses in both the Portrait and Landscape orientations
unlike many LCDs, which generally work in only one of the two orientations.
· The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a new
Cover Glass technology, called Ceramic Shield, that is much more durable and
scratch resistant than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Ceramic Shield provides 4x higher
resistance to breakage according to Apple.
iPhone 12 Pro Max Conclusions:
The primary goal of this Display Technology Shoot-Out
article series has always been to publicize and promote display excellence
so that consumers, journalists and even manufacturers are aware of and
appreciate the very best in displays and display technology. We point out which
manufactures and display technologies are leading and advancing the
state-of-the-art for displays by performing comprehensive and objective scientific
Lab tests and measurements together with in-depth analysis. We point out who is
leading, who is behind, who is improving, and sometimes (unfortunately) who is
back pedaling… all based solely on the extensive objective careful Lab
measurements that we also publish, so that everyone can judge the data for
themselves as well.
Summary of the iPhone 12 Pro Max Display
Functions, Features, and Performance Records:
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has many major and important
state-of-the-art display performance enhancements, features and functions,
including setting many new Display Performance Records,
which are summarized below.
See the Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table
section below for the complete DisplayMate Lab measurements and test details.
See the Highlights and Performance
Results section above for a detailed overview with expanded discussions and
explanations.
See the Display Assessments
section for the evaluation details.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has the following
State-of-the-Art Display Performance Functions and Features:
· A
state-of-the-art OLED display that is
manufactured on a flexible plastic substrate. While
the OLED display itself is flexible, the screen remains rigid under an outer
hard cover glass.
· A Full Screen design
with a large 6.7 inch
OLED display that fills almost the entire
front face of the iPhone 12 Pro Max from edge-to-edge, providing a
significantly larger display for the same phone size.
· A display form factor with a taller height to width Aspect Ratio of 19.5 : 9 = 2.16, which is 22% larger than the 16 : 9 = 1.78 on most
Smartphones (and widescreen TVs) because the display now has the same overall
shape as the entire phone. It is taller in Portrait mode and wider in Landscape
mode.
· A 2.8K High Resolution 2778 x 1284 Full HD+ Display
with 458 pixels per inch, and Diamond Sub-Pixels with Sub-Pixel Rendering for
enhanced sharpness and higher Peak Brightness.
· The iPhone
12 Pro Max display appears Perfectly Sharp for normal
20/20 Vision at Typical Smartphone Viewing Distances of 12 to 18 inches (30 to
46 cm).
· A Record
High Full Screen Brightness for OLED Smartphones of 825 nits for 100% APL, which improves screen
visibility in high Ambient Light. On its Home Screen
the iPhone 12 Pro Max produces an impressive 820 nits.
· Each iPhone 12 Pro Max display is individually calibrated at
the factory for both Color Accuracy and Contrast Accuracy.
· Very High Absolute Color Accuracy (0.9 JNCD) that is
Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Color Accuracy and
Intensity Scales that are Independent of the Image Content APL.
· Automatic Color Management that automatically switches to the proper Color Gamut for
any displayed image content within the Wide DCI-P3 Color Space that has an ICC
Profile, so images automatically appear with the correct colors, neither being
over-saturated or under-saturated.
· 2 Industry Standard Color Gamuts: the sRGB / Rec.709 Color
Gamut that is used for most current consumer
content, and the new Wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut that is used in 4K Ultra HD TVs. The DCI-P3 Gamut is
26 percent larger than the sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut.
· A full 100%
DCI-P3 Color Gamut that is also used for
4K Ultra HD TVs, so the iPhone 12 Pro Max can display the latest
high-end 4K video content.
· A High Dynamic Range Mobile HDR
Display which allows the iPhone 12 Pro Max to play 4K High Dynamic Range
content produced for 4K UHD TVs. The HDR Peak
Brightness is 1,200 nits.
· A Very Low Screen
Reflectance of 4.8 percent.
· A Night Shift Mode that
allows the user to adjust and reduce the amount of Blue Light from the display
for better night viewing and improved sleep.
· A Dark Mode setting that
inverts the typical White Background with Black Text to a Black Background with
White Text, which significantly reduces the overall Brightness of the entire
display for most applications, and should reduce eye strain when viewing the
display in low to dark ambient light.
· A True
Tone viewing mode that automatically changes the White Point and
color balance of the display based on real-time measurements of the Ambient
Light falling on the screen to make the display behave more like paper reflecting
Ambient Light and taking on its color.
· Small to Medium Color Shifts and Small Brightness Shifts with Viewing Angle.
· Vision Accessibility Display Modes to help people
with vision impairments.
· The iPhone 12 Pro
Max can be used with Polarized Sunglasses
in both the Portrait and Landscape orientations unlike many LCDs, which
generally work in only one of the two orientations.
The iPhone 12
Pro Max sets or matches 11 Smartphone Display Performance Records for:
Note that Numerical Performance
Differences that are Visually Indistinguishable are considered Matched and Tied
Performance Records.
· Highest Absolute Color Accuracy (0.9 JNCD) – Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Highest Image
Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale Accuracy (2.19 Gamma) – Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Smallest Shift in Color Accuracy
and Intensity Scale with the Image Content APL (0.2 JNCD) – Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Smallest Shift in Image
Contrast and Intensity Scale with the Image Content APL (0.00 Gamma) – Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Smallest Change in Peak Luminance with the Image Content Average
Picture Level APL (1 percent) – Visually
Indistinguishable From Perfect.
· Highest Full Screen Brightness for OLED Smartphones (825 nits
for 100% APL).
· Highest Full Screen Contrast Rating in Ambient Light
(172 at 100% APL).
· Highest Contrast Ratio (Infinite).
· Lowest Screen Reflectance (4.8 percent).
· Smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle (27% at 30
degrees).
· Highest Visible Screen Resolution 2.8K (2778x1284) – 4K Does Not appear visually sharper on a Smartphone.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max earns our Highest A+
Display Performance Assessment Rating
OLED has evolved into a highly refined and mature display technology that
now produces the best and highest performance displays for Smartphones.
OLED Display Performance continues to
provide major Record Setting improvements with every new generation.
With consumers now spending rapidly increasing amounts of
time watching content on their Smartphones, the shift in emphasis from
primarily improving Display Hardware Performance to enhancing the overall
display Picture Quality and Color Accuracy is an important step that
DisplayMate Technologies has been pushing for many years in our Display
Technology Shoot-Out article series, so it is great to see
manufacturers improving and then competing on these DisplayMate
Objective Lab Measurement Metrics.
Apple has
concentrated on significantly raising the on-screen Absolute
Picture Quality and Absolute Color Accuracy
of the OLED display by implementing Precision Factory
Display Calibration, moving the overall iPhone
12 Pro Max Display Performance up to Record
Setting Outstanding Levels with close to Text
Book Perfect Calibration Accuracy that is Visually
Indistinguishable From Perfect.
DisplayMate Display Performance Ratings:
All of the Results in this
article are based Entirely on our Objective and Extensive DisplayMate Lab Tests
and Measurements that are all listed in a section below.
To
get a DisplayMate
A Display Performance Rating the display must get All Green [Very Good
to Excellent] Ratings for All of the Display Tests and Measurements [except for Color Shifts
at 30 degrees Viewing Angle, which are deemed less important].
And
to get a DisplayMate
A+ Display Performance Rating the Average Absolute Color Accuracy and the
Average Absolute Color Accuracy Shifts with Average Picture Level APL must All
be less than 1.0 JNCD, and the Largest Color Errors must All be less
than 3.0 JNCD.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max delivers
Uniformly Consistent Top Tier Display
Performance and receives All Green [Very Good to Excellent] Ratings in All DisplayMate Lab Test Display Performance and Accuracy
Categories and has Absolute Color
Accuracy much better than 1.0 JNCD.
As a Result the iPhone 12 Pro Max display meets all of the
criteria and requirements for a DisplayMate A+ Grade, earning DisplayMate’s
Highest Overall Display Assessment Rating and Highest Display Performance Grade
of A+.
DisplayMate Display Performance Rating and
Best Smartphone Display Award
Based on our extensive Lab Tests and Measurements the iPhone 12 Pro Max
has a Very Impressive Excellent Top Tier World Class Smartphone Display
with close to Text Book Perfect Calibration
Accuracy and Performance that is Visually
Indistinguishable From Perfect. Based
on our objective Lab Tests and Measurements the iPhone
12 Pro Max receives a DisplayMate Best
Smartphone Display Award earning DisplayMate’s highest ever Display Performance Grade of A+ and setting or
matching 11 Smartphone Display Performance Records
that are listed above.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max joins
the very select Top Tier of Smartphone Displays which all provide Close to Text Book Perfect Calibration Accuracy and
Performance that is Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect, so they all
received and maintain Concurrent DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Awards. All are Excellent State-of-the-Art Displays, each is
better in some Display Performance Categories, but None are Best in All the
Display Performance Categories. Note that measured numerical display
performance differences that are Visually Indistinguishable are equivalent.
As Display Performance continues
to improve we have and will continue to raise the Performance Levels necessary
to receive a DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Award and an A+ Display
Rating, so the Top Tier of Smartphone Displays will continue to evolve and change with
each new display generation, but only the
Very Best Displays will continue to receive A+ Ratings each year.
OLED displays now have tremendous performance advantages
over LCDs, so high-end and flagship Smartphones need OLED displays in order to
compete at state-of-the-art performance levels, securing OLED as the definitive
premier display technology for Top Tier Smartphones in the foreseeable future
over the next 3-5 years. With the continuing improvements in OLED hardware
performance, picture quality, and precision accuracy, it will be much harder
for new display technologies to challenge OLED.
Follow DisplayMate
on Twitter to learn about our upcoming Smartphone display technology
coverage.
See the links below for all of the iPhone 12 Pro Max
Measurements, Evaluations, Analysis, and Assessments
Data Tables: See
the Display Shoot-Out Lab Measurements Comparison Table
section below has the complete set of measurements and tests.
Highlights: See
the Display Highlights and Performance Results
section above for detailed information, explanations, and analysis.
Features: See the Display Performance Functions and Features
section above for a list of the main functions and features.
Records: See
the Display Performance Records section above
that lists the Lab measurement performance records.
Assessments: See the Display
Performance Assessments section below summarizes the display evaluation
details.
Improving the
Next Generation of Mobile Displays
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has
a very high resolution 2.8K 2778x1284 pixel display with 458 pixels per inch
(ppi) producing images that look perfectly sharp with normal 20/20 Vision under
all normal viewing conditions, which always includes some ambient light that
always lowers the visible image contrast and perceived image sharpness
(Modulation Transfer MTF). Note that displays are
almost never viewed in absolute darkness under perfect viewing conditions with
ideal image content. Some clueless reviewers have been pining for 4K
3840x2160 Smartphones, which would require more than double the pixels, memory,
and processing power of the 2778x1284 display on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but
there would be no visual benefit for humans! As a result, it is absolutely pointless to further increase
the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi) for a marketing wild goose
chase into the stratosphere, with no visual benefit for humans!
Improving Display Performance
for Real World Ambient Light Viewing Conditions
With screen size and resolution already functionally
maxed out, manufacturers should instead dedicate their efforts and resources
into improving real world display performance in ambient light by using
advanced technology to restore and compensate for the loss of color gamut,
color saturation, and image contrast due to ambient light, something that every
consumer will benefit from, and will also immediately notice and appreciate –
providing a true sales and marketing advantage…
Currently all existing displays
are Accurate only when viewed in Absolute Darkness 0 lux. The most
important improvements for OLED and LCD mobile displays will come from
improving their image and picture quality and screen readability in Real World Ambient Light, which washes out the screen
images, resulting in Reduced Image Contrast, Reduced Color Saturation, and Reduce Color Accuracy. The key will be in lowering the Screen Reflectance and implementing Dynamic Color Management with automatic real-time
modification of the display’s native Color Gamut and Dynamic
Intensity Scales based on the measured Ambient Light level in order to
have them compensate for the reflected light glare and image wash out that
causes a loss of color saturation and image contrast from ambient light as
discussed in our Innovative
Displays and Display Technology and SID
Display Technology Shoot-Out articles.
The displays, technologies, and
manufacturers that succeed in implementing this new real world high ambient
light performance strategy will take the lead in the next generations of mobile
displays… Follow DisplayMate
on Twitter to learn about these developments and our upcoming display
technology coverage.
DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology
All
Smartphone, Tablet, Monitor and TV displays can be significantly improved using
DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical
display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration,
and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement,
prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization,
testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality
control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in
our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a
lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization
Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a
display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display
performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.
|
iPhone 12 Pro Max
|
Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table
Below we
examine in-depth the OLED display on the Apple iPhone
12 Pro Max based on objective Lab
measurement data
and
criteria in the following sections: Display
Specifications, Overall Assessments, Screen Reflections, Brightness
and Contrast,
Colors and Intensities, Absolute Color Accuracy, Viewing
Angles, OLED Spectra, Display
Power.
For
additional background information see this earlier article covering the Flagship OLED
2017 Smartphones.
Detailed Test and Measurement Comparisons between
the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, and the Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Displays
You can directly compare the data and measurement results
for the iPhone 12 Pro Max with the iPhone 11 Pro Max and Galaxy Note20 Ultra
displays
in detail by using a Tabbed web browser with our
comprehensive Lab measurements and analysis for each of the displays.
For each Tab click on a Link below. The entries are
mostly identical with only minor formatting differences,
so it is easy to make detailed side-by-side comparisons
by simply clicking through the Tabs.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max Lab Measurements Comparison Table
Apple
iPhone 11 Pro Max Lab Measurements Comparison Table
Samsung
Galaxy Note20 Ultra Lab Measurements Comparison Table
For
comparisons with the other leading Smartphone, Tablet, and Smart Watch displays
see our Mobile Display
Technology Shoot-Out series.
|
Categories
|
Apple
iPhone 12 Pro Max
|
Comments
|
|
Display Technology
|
6.7 inch
Diagonal / 17.0 cm Diagonal
Excluding
the Rounded Corners
Flexible OLED Display
with Diamond Sub-Pixels
|
Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode
Diamond Sub-Pixels with
Diagonal Symmetry.
|
|
Screen Shape
|
19.5 : 9 =
2.16
New Higher
Aspect Ratio
Most
Smartphones and Widescreen TVs have 16 : 9 = 1.78
|
Height to Width Aspect Ratio
iPhone 12 Pro Max display screen is 22%
longer than
most Smartphones and widescreen 16:9 TV
content.
|
|
Screen Size
|
2.80 x
6.07 inches
7.12 x
15.41 cm
|
Display Width and Height in inches and
cm.
|
|
Screen Area
|
16.7 square inches / 108
square cm
After
Subtracting the Top Slot Area but not the Rounded Corners
|
A better measure of size than the
diagonal length.
|
|
Supported Color Gamuts
|
Wide Gamut
– DCI-P3 Digital Cinema Color Gamut
Standard
Gamut – sRGB / Rec.709 Standard Color Gamut
|
The iPhone 12 Pro Max supports 2 Color
Gamuts including the new wider DCI-P3 Color Gamut that is
used in the 4K Ultra HD TV content.
|
|
Display Resolution
|
2778 x 1284
pixels
2.8K Full
HD+
|
Screen Pixel Resolution.
Quad HD can display four 1280x720 HD
images.
|
|
Total Number of Pixels
|
3.6 Mega
Pixels
|
Total Number of Pixels.
|
|
Pixels Per Inch
|
458 PPI
with Diamond Sub-Pixels
Excellent
|
Sharpness depends on the viewing distance
and PPI.
See this on
the visual acuity for a true Retina Display
|
|
Sub-Pixels Per Inch
|
Red
324 SPPI
Green
458 SPPI
Blue
324 SPPI
|
Diamond Sub-Pixel displays have only half
the number
of Red and Blue Sub-Pixels as RGB Stripe
displays.
See the Diamond Sub-Pixel
layout
|
|
Total Number of Sub-Pixels
|
Red
1.8 Million Sub-Pixels
Green 3.6
Million Sub-Pixels
Blue
1.8 Million Sub-Pixels
|
Number of Mega Sub-Pixels for Red,
Green, Blue.
Diamond Sub-Pixel displays have only half
the number
of Red and Blue Sub-Pixels as RGB Stripe
displays.
At High PPI this is generally not visible
due to the
use of Sub-Pixel Rendering.
|
|
20/20 Vision Distance
where Pixels or Sub-Pixels
are Not Resolved
|
7.5 inches / 19.1 cm for White and Green Sub-Pixels with 20/20 Vision
10.6
inches / 27.0 cm for Red and Blue Sub-Pixels with 20/20 Vision
|
For 20/20 Vision the minimum Viewing
Distance
where the screen appears perfectly sharp
to the eye.
|
|
Display Sharpness
at Typical Viewing Distances
|
iPhone 12 Pro Max
Display appears Perfectly Sharp
Pixels are
not Resolved with 20/20 Vision
at Typical
Viewing Distances of
12 to
18 inches
30 to 46
cm
|
The Typical Viewing Distances for this
screen size
are in the range of 12 to 18 inches or
30 to 46 cm.
Also note that eye’s resolution is much
lower for
Red and Blue color content than White
and Green.
|
|
Appears Perfectly Sharp
at Typical Viewing Distances
|
Yes
|
Typical Viewing Distances are 12 to 18
inches
or 30 to 46 cm for this screen size.
|
|
Overall Assessments
This section summarizes
the results for all of the extensive Lab Measurements and Viewing Tests
performed on the display.
See Screen Reflections, Brightness
and Contrast, Colors and Intensities,
Viewing Angles, OLED
Spectra, Display Power.
The
iPhone 12 Pro Max Color Management automatically switches to the appropriate
Color Gamut for the current on-screen content.
The
DCI-P3 Digital Cinema Gamut is used in 4K Ultra HD TVs, and other advanced imaging
applications.
The
sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut is used for most current consumer photo, video,
web, and computer content.
|
Categories
|
Wide
Gamut
DCI-P3
Digital Cinema
|
Standard
Gamut
sRGB /
Rec.709 Content
|
Comments
|
|
Viewing Tests
in Subdued Ambient Lighting
|
Excellent
Images
Photos and
Videos
have
Excellent Color
and
Accurate Contrast
Accurate
Wide Gamut
|
Excellent
Images
Photos and
Videos
have
Excellent Color
and
Accurate Contrast
Accurate
Standard Gamut
|
The Viewing Tests examine the accuracy
of
photographic images by comparing the
displays
to an calibrated studio monitor and TV.
|
|
Variation with Viewing Angle
Colors and Brightness
See Viewing Angles
|
Small to
Medium Color Shifts
with
Viewing Angle
Shifts
towards Blue
Small
Brightness Shifts
with
Viewing Angle
|
Small to
Medium Color Shifts
with
Viewing Angle
Shifts
towards Blue
Small
Brightness Shifts
with
Viewing Angle
|
The iPhone 12 Pro Max display has a
relatively small
decrease in Brightness with Viewing
Angle and
relatively small Color Shifts with
Viewing Angle.
See the Viewing Angles section for details.
|
|
Overall Display Assessment
Lab Tests and Measurements
|
Excellent
OLED Display
Accurate
Wide Gamut
|
Excellent
OLED Display
Accurate
Standard Gamut
|
The iPhone 12 Pro Max OLED Display
performed
very well in the Lab Tests and
Measurements.
|
|
|
|
Absolute Color Accuracy
Measured over Entire Gamut
See Figure 2 and Colors
|
Excellent
Color Accuracy
Color
Errors are Very Small
Accurate
Wide Gamut
|
Excellent
Color Accuracy
Color
Errors are Very Small
Accurate
Standard Gamut
|
Absolute
Color Accuracy is measured with a
Spectroradiometer
for 41
Reference Colors
uniformly
distributed within the entire Color Gamut.
See
Figure 2 and Colors for details.
|
|
Image Contrast Accuracy
See Figure 3 and Contrast
|
Excellent
Contrast Accuracy
Image
Contrast
Very
Accurate
|
Excellent
Contrast Accuracy
Image
Contrast
Very
Accurate
|
The
Image Contrast Accuracy is determined by
measuring
the Log Intensity Scale and Gamma.
See
Figure 3 and Contrast for details.
|
|
Performance in Ambient Light
Display Brightness
Screen Reflectance
Contrast Rating
See Brightness and Contrast
See Screen Reflections
|
High
Display Brightness
Very Low
Reflectance
High
Contrast Rating
for Ambient
Light
|
High Display
Brightness
Very Low
Reflectance
High
Contrast Rating
for Ambient
Light
|
Smartphones
are seldom used in the dark.
Screen
Brightness and Reflectance determine
the
Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light.
See
the Brightness and Contrast section for details.
See
the Screen Reflections section for details.
|
|
Overall Display Calibration
Image and Picture Quality
Lab Tests and Viewing Tests
|
Excellent
Calibration
Accurate
Wide Gamut
|
Excellent
Calibration
Accurate
Standard Gamut
|
iPhone 12 Pro Max display delivers
accurately
calibrated colors and images for both
the
Wide Gamut and Standard Gamut.
|
|
|
Overall Display Grade
Overall
Assessment
|
Overall iPhone 12 Pro Max
Display Grade is Excellent A+
DisplayMate Best
Smartphone Display Award
with 11 Smartphone
Display Performance Records
An Excellent Top Tier
World Class Smartphone Display
|
The iPhone 12 Pro Max display delivers
excellent
image quality, has both Wide Color Gamut
and Standard Color Gamut modes, with
high Screen Brightness and low
Reflectance,
has good Viewing Angles, and is an all
around
top performing Smartphone display.
|
|
Accurate
Wide Gamut
For Viewing
4K UHD TV
DCI-P3
Cinema Content
|
Accurate
Standard Gamut
For Viewing
Most Content
Photo Video
Movie Web
|
Categories
|
Wide
Gamut
DCI-P3
Digital Cinema
|
Standard
Gamut
sRGB /
Rec.709 Content
|
Comments
|
|
Screen Reflections
All display screens are mirrors good enough to use
for personal grooming – but that is actually a very bad feature…
We measured the light reflected from all directions
and also direct mirror (specular) reflections, which are much more
distracting and cause more eye strain. Many
Smartphones still have greater than 10 percent reflections that make the
screen much harder to read even in moderate ambient
light levels, requiring ever higher brightness settings that waste
precious battery power. Hopefully manufacturers
will reduce the mirror reflections with anti-reflection coatings and
matte or haze surface finishes.
Our Lab Measurements include Average
Reflectance for Ambient Light from All Directions and for Mirror Reflections.
We use an Integrating Hemisphere and a
highly collimated pencil light beam together with a Spectroradiometer.
Note the Screen
Reflectance is exactly the same for both Color Gamuts.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has close to the
lowest Screen Reflectance levels that we have ever measured for a Smartphone.
These results are extremely important
for screen readability, picture quality, and color accuracy in ambient light.
|
Categories
|
iPhone
12 Pro Max
|
Comments
|
|
Average Screen Reflection
Light From All Directions
|
4.8 percent
for
Ambient Light Reflections
Excellent
|
Measured using an Integrating Hemisphere
and
a Spectroradiometer.
The lowest value we have ever measured
for a Smartphone is 4.3 percent.
|
|
Mirror Reflections
Percentage of Light Reflected
|
5.9
percent
for Mirror
Reflections
Very Good
|
These are the most annoying types of
Reflections.
Measured using a Spectroradiometer and a
narrow
collimated pencil beam of light
reflected off the screen.
The lowest value we have ever measured
for a Smartphone is 5.4 percent.
|
|
Brightness and Contrast
The Contrast Ratio
is the specification that gets the most attention, but it only applies for
low ambient light, which is seldom
the case for mobile
displays.
Much more important is the Contrast
Rating, which indicates how easy it is to read the screen under
high ambient lighting and depends on both
the Maximum Brightness and the Screen Reflectance. The larger the better.
The display’s actual on-screen Contrast Ratio changes with the Ambient Light lux
level and is proportional to the Contrast Rating.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max comes with Auto-Brightness turned On, which automatically
changes the display Brightness
based on the current level of ambient light measured by
a sensor near the top of the phone.
The Maximum Brightness is the
same for both the Manual and Auto-Brightness modes.
|
Categories
|
Wide
Gamut
DCI-P3
Digital Cinema
|
Standard
Gamut
sRGB /
Rec.709 Content
|
Comments
|
|
Home Screen Peak Brightness
Measured for White
|
Brightness
820 cd/m2
Excellent
|
Brightness
820 cd/m2
Excellent
|
The Peak Brightness for White on the
Home Screen.
Varies with the Wallpaper selected.
|
|
Measured Maximum Brightness
50% Average Picture Level
|
Brightness
830 cd/m2
Excellent
|
Brightness
829 cd/m2
Excellent
|
This is the Brightness for typical
screen content
that has a 50% Average Picture Level.
|
|
Measured Maximum Brightness
100% Full Screen White
|
Brightness
825 cd/m2
Excellent
|
Brightness
825 cd/m2
Excellent
|
This is the Brightness for a screen that
is entirely
all white with 100% Average Picture
Level.
|
|
Measured Maximum Brightness
1% Average Picture Level
|
Brightness
819 cd/m2
Excellent
|
Brightness
819 cd/m2
Excellent
|
This is the Brightness for a screen that
has only a tiny 1% Average Picture
Level.
|
|
Dynamic Brightness
Change in Luminance with
Average Picture Level
|
1 percent
Decrease
Excellent
|
1 percent
Decrease
Excellent
|
This is the percent Brightness decrease
with APL,
Average Picture Level. Ideally should be
0 percent.
|
|
Low Ambient Light
|
|
Lowest Peak Brightness
Super Dim Setting
Brightness Slider to Minimum
|
2 cd/m2
For Very
Low Light
|
2 cd/m2
For Very
Low Light
|
This is the Lowest Brightness with the
Slider set to
Minimum. This is useful for working in
very dark
environments. Picture Quality remains
Excellent.
|
|
Black Brightness at 0 lux
at Maximum Brightness Setting
|
0 cd/m2
Outstanding
|
0 cd/m2
Outstanding
|
Black Brightness is important for Low
Ambient Light,
which is seldom the case for mobile
devices.
|
|
Contrast Ratio at 0 lux
Relevant for Low Ambient Light
|
Infinite
Outstanding
|
Infinite
Outstanding
|
Only relevant for Low Ambient Light,
which is seldom the case for mobile
devices.
|
|
High Ambient Light
|
|
Contrast Rating
for High Ambient Light
The Higher the Better
for Screen Readability
in High Ambient Light
|
172
Excellent
|
172
Excellent
|
Depends on the Screen Reflectance and
Brightness.
Defined as Maximum Brightness / Average Reflectance.
The display’s actual on-screen Contrast
Ratio
changes with the Ambient Light lux level
and
is proportional to the Contrast Rating.
|
|
Screen Readability
in High Ambient Light
|
Excellent:
A+
|
Excellent: A+
|
Indicates how easy it is to read the
screen
under High Ambient Lighting. Depends on
both the Screen Reflectance and Brightness.
See High
Ambient Light Screen Shots
|
|
Colors and Intensities
The Color Gamut, Intensity Scale, and White Point
determine the quality and accuracy of all displayed images and all
the image colors. Bigger is definitely Not Better
because the display needs to match all the standards that were used
when the content was produced.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max Color Management
automatically switches to the appropriate Color Gamut for the current
on-screen content.
|
Categories
|
Wide
Gamut
DCI-P3
Digital Cinema
|
Standard
Gamut
sRGB /
Rec.709 Content
|
Comments
|
|
Color of White
Color Temperature in degrees
Measured in the dark at 0 lux
See Figure 1
|
6,430 K
0.3 JNCD
from D65 White
Very Close
to Standard
Accurate
Wide Gamut
See Figure 1
|
6,420 K
0.4 JNCD
from D65 White
Very Close
to Standard
Accurate
Standard Gamut
See Figure 1
|
D65 with 6,500 K is the standard color
of White
for most Consumer Content and needed for
accurate color reproduction of all
images.
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
White Point accuracy is more critical than
other colors.
See Figure 1
for the plotted White Points.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
|
|
Color Gamut
Measured in the dark at 0 lux
See Figure 1
|
101 percent
DCI-P3
Cinema Gamut
Very Close
to Standard
Accurate
Wide Gamut
See Figure 1
|
100 percent
sRGB /
Rec.709 Gamut
Very Close
to Standard
Accurate
Standard Gamut
See Figure 1
|
Most current consumer content uses sRGB /
Rec.709.
The new 4K UHD TVs and Digital Cinema use
DCI-P3.
A Wide Color Gamut is useful in High
Ambient Light
and for some applications. It can be used
with Color
Management to dynamically change the
Gamut.
See Figure 1
|
|
Absolute Color Accuracy
|
|
Absolute Color Accuracy
Average Color Error at 0 lux
For 41 Reference Colors
Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 2
|
Average
Color Error
From
DCI-P3
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0037
0.9 JNCD
Excellent
Color Accuracy
Accurate
Wide Gamut
See Figure 2
|
Average
Color Error
From sRGB
/ Rec.709
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0038
0.9 JNCD
Excellent
Color Accuracy
Accurate
Standard Gamut
See Figure 2
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD and for
Accuracy Plots showing
the measured Color Errors.
Color Errors below 2.0 JNCD are Excellent
Color Errors below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
Color Errors 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
Color Errors above 7.0 JNCD are
Poor.
|
|
Absolute Color Accuracy
Largest Color Error at 0 lux
For 41 Reference Colors
Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 2
|
Largest Color Error
From
DCI-P3
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0087
2.2 JNCD
for 75%
Blue
Very Good
Accuracy
Accurate
Wide Gamut
See Figure 2
|
Largest Color Error
From sRGB
/ Rec.709
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0084
2.1 JNCD
for 100%
Red
Very Good
Accuracy
Accurate
Standard Gamut
See Figure 2
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD and for
Accuracy Plots showing
the measured Color Errors.
Color Errors below 2.0 JNCD are
Excellent
Color Errors below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
Color Errors 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
Color Errors above 7.0 JNCD are
Poor.
|
Shifts in Absolute Color Accuracy with Average Picture Level APL
Shifts in Absolute Color Accuracy with
Image Content from Low 1% APL to High 50% APL
|
|
Shift in the Color of White
Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 4
|
White Point
Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0004
0.1 JNCD
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
White Point
Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0002
0.1 JNCD
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
See Figure 4 for the
measured Color Shifts.
Color Shifts below 2.0 JNCD are
Excellent
Color Shifts below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
Color Shifts 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
Color Shifts above 7.0 JNCD are
Poor.
|
|
Average Color Shift
For 41 Reference Colors
Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 4
|
Average
Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0007
0.2 JNCD
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
Average
Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0007
0.2 JNCD
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
See Figure 4 for the
measured Color Shifts.
Color Shifts below 2.0 JNCD are
Excellent
Color Shifts below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
Color Shifts 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
Color Shifts above 7.0 JNCD are
Poor.
|
|
Largest Color Shift
For 41 Reference Colors
Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 4
|
Largest Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0021
0.5 JNCD
for 75% Red
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
Largest Color Shift
from Low
to High APL
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0024
0.6 JNCD
for 100%
Red
Excellent
See Figure 4
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
See Figure 4 for the
measured Color Shifts.
Color Shifts below 2.0 JNCD are
Excellent
Color Shifts below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
Color Shifts 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
Color Shifts above 7.0 JNCD are
Poor.
|
|
Intensity Scale and Image Contrast Accuracy
|
|
Intensity Scale and
Image Contrast
See Figure 3
|
Very
Smooth and Straight
Excellent
Very
Accurate
See Figure 3
|
Very
Smooth and Straight
Excellent
Very
Accurate
See Figure 3
|
The Intensity Scale controls image
contrast needed
for accurate Image Contrast and Color reproduction.
See Figure 3
|
|
Gamma for the Intensity Scale
Larger has more Image Contrast
See Figure 3
|
Gamma 2.19
Excellent
Gamma Very
Accurate
|
Gamma 2.19
Excellent
Gamma Very
Accurate
|
Gamma is the log slope of the Intensity
Scale.
Gamma of 2.20 is the standard and needed
for
accurate Image Contrast and Color
reproduction.
See Figure 3
|
|
Image Contrast Accuracy
|
Excellent
|
Excellent
|
See Figure 3
|
|
Viewing Angles
The variation of
Brightness, Contrast, and Color with Viewing Angle is especially important
for Smartphones because
of their larger screen
and multiple viewers. The typical manufacturer 176+ degree specification for
LCD Viewing Angle
is nonsense because that
is where the Contrast Ratio falls to a miniscule 10. For most LCDs there are
substantial
degradations at less
than ±30 degrees, which is not an atypical Viewing Angle for Smartphones and
Tablets.
Note
that the Viewing Angle performance is also very important for a single viewer
because the Viewing Angle can vary
significantly
based on how the Smartphone is held. The Viewing Angle can be very large if
resting on a table or desk.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max display
has a Brightness (Luminance) fall off with Viewing Angle that is much smaller
than the best LCD displays.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max
has a relatively small White Shift of 2.4 JNCD at 30
degrees, which is unlikely to be noticeable for typical Viewing
Angles.
The Color Shifts
throughout the entire Color Gamut vary as combinations of the Primary Color
Shifts.
The Color Shift for the Green Primary is 2.7 JNCD
at 30 degrees, which is unlikely to
be noticeable for typical Viewing Angles.
The Color Shifts for
both the Red and Blue Primaries Shifts of 4.8 to 4.9
JNCD are both somewhat larger than the 3.5 JNCD needed
for a Very Good Green
rating, and may be noticeable for some color content but not objectionable.
Note that Blue Color Shifts are less visually noticeable than the
Red and Green Color Shifts found in many Smartphone displays.
Note
that for 2020 we now list the Color Shifts for each individual Primary Color
instead of only listing the Maximum Color Shift,
which
had up to a higher 5.0 JNCD threshold for receiving a Very Good Green Rating.
With the new 3.5 JNCD metric
almost
all current model OLED Smartphone Displays would receive a Yellow Rating for
one or more of the Primary Colors.
|
Categories
|
Wide
Gamut
DCI-P3
Digital Cinema
|
Standard
Gamut
sRGB /
Rec.709 Content
|
Comments
|
|
Brightness Decrease
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
27 percent
Decrease
Small
Decrease
Very Good
|
Most screens become less bright when
tilted.
OLED decrease is due to optical
absorption.
LCD decrease is generally greater than 50
percent.
|
|
Contrast Ratio at 0 lux
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
Infinite
Contrast Ratio
Outstanding
|
A measure of screen readability when the
screen
is tilted under low ambient lighting.
|
|
White Point Color Shift
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
Small Color
Shift
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0098 Shift towards Blue
2.4 JNCD
Very Good
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
Color Shifts below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
|
|
Color Shifts for the Primaries
|
|
Red Primary Color Shift
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
Medium
Color Shift
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0194
4.9 JNCD
Good
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
Color Shifts 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good
|
|
Green Primary Color Shift
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
Small Color
Shift
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0107
2.7 JNCD
Very Good
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
Color Shifts below 3.5 JNCD are Very
Good.
|
|
Blue Primary Color Shift
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
|
Medium
Color Shift
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0191
4.8 JNCD
Good
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
Color Shifts 3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are
Good.
|
|
|
|
Color Shifts for Color Mixtures
at a 30 degree Viewing Angle
Reference Brown (255, 128, 0)
|
Small
Color Shift
Δ(u’v’)
= 0.0121
3.0 JNCD Very Good
|
JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.
Color Shifts for non-IPS LCDs are about 10
JNCD.
Reference Brown is a good indicator of
color shifts
with angle because of unequal drive
levels and
roughly equal luminance contributions
from Red
and Green. See Figure 2 for the
definition of JNCD.
|
|
Display Spectra
The Display Spectra for the iPhone 12
Pro Max including the Night Shift mode are measured in Figure 5 below.
The Night Shift
mode is designed to change the color balance of the display in order to
reduce the amount of Blue Light
produced by the display,
which some recent research indicates can affect how well users sleep
afterwards.
The measured display
spectra for several of the Night Shift settings
are included in Figure 5b.
Display Power Consumption
The display power was measured using a Linear
Regression between Luminance and AC Power with a fully charged battery.
Since the displays can have different screen sizes
and maximum brightness, the display power values below are also scaled
to the same screen Brightness (Luminance) and same
Screen Area in order to compare their Relative Power
Efficiencies.
Comparison with LCDs
While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with
mostly full screen white content (like all text screens on a
white background, for example), OLEDs are more power
efficient for typical mixed image content because they are
emissive displays so their power varies with the
Average Picture Level (average Brightness) of the image content over
the entire screen. For OLEDs, Black pixels and
sub-pixels don’t use any power so screens with Black backgrounds are
very power efficient for OLEDs. For LCDs the display
power is fixed and independent of image content.
Currently, OLED displays are
more power efficient than LCDs for Average Pictures Levels of 70 percent or
less, and
LCDs are more power efficient
for Average Picture Levels above 70 percent.
Since both technologies are continuing to improve their
power efficiencies, the crossover will continue to change with time.
For OLEDs the Display Power
depends on the Picture Content.
An entirely Black OLED Screen
uses 0 watts of Display Power.
For Maximum Brightness and
Display Power the iPhone 12 Pro Max has up to 10% higher Relative Display
Power Efficiency
compared to the iPhone 11 Pro
Max.
When the display is at Full
Screen Peak White the display uses 80% of the total iPhone power,
so the display settings are a
major factor in the Battery Running Time.
|
Categories
|
iPhone
11 Pro Max
|
iPhone
12 Pro Max
|
Comments
|
|
Average Display Power
Maximum Brightness at
50% Average Picture
Level
|
50%
Average Picture Level
2.45
watts
with 821
cd/m2
15.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
50%
Average Picture Level
2.40
watts
with
829 cd/m2
16.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
This measures the Average Display
Power for
a typical range of image content.
|
|
Relative Power Efficiency
50% Average Picture Level
Compared to iPhone 11 Pro Max
For the same 821 cd/m2
For the same Screen Area
|
Relative Average Power 100%
2.45
watts
with 821
cd/m2
15.7 inch2 Screen Area
|
Relative Average Power 91%
2.23 watts
with the same 821
cd/m2
with the same 15.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
This compares the Relative Power Efficiency
by scaling the measured Display Power to the
same Screen Brightness and same Screen Area
as the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
|
|
|
|
Maximum Display Power
Full White Screen
at Maximum Brightness
|
Maximum
Power
Full
Screen White
4.50
watts
with
769 cd/m2
15.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
Maximum
Power
Full
Screen White
4.60
watts
with
825 cd/m2
16.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
This measures the Maximum Display
power for
a screen that is entirely Peak White.
|
|
Relative Power Efficiency
Maximum Display Power
Compared to iPhone 11 Pro Max
For the same 769 cd/m2
For the same Screen Area
|
Relative Maximum Power 100%
4.50
watts
with
769 cd/m2
15.7 inch2 Screen Area
|
Relative Maximum Power 90%
4.03 watts
with the same 769
cd/m2
with the same 15.7 inch2
Screen Area
|
This compares the Relative Power Efficiency
by scaling the measured Display Power to the
same Screen Brightness and same Screen Area
as the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
|
|
About the Author
Dr. Raymond Soneira is
President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire,
which produces display calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for
consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research
scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television
system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from
Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal
Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell
Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television
broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development
Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in
physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any
comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso.info@displaymate.com.
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Article Links: Apple
iPhone 11 Pro Max OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out
Article Links: Samsung
Galaxy Note20 Ultra OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out
Article Links: Display
Color Gamuts Shoot-Out NTSC to Rec.2020
Article Links: Absolute
Color Accuracy Display Technology Shoot-Out
Article Links: Watching
Displays at Night
Article Links: Display Technology Shoot-Out
Article Series Overview and Home Page
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