Dan Pražák The main novelty of iOS 13 is undoubtedly Dark Mode. The latter is not only intended to make using iPhones more pleasant in the evening, but also to partially save the battery, especially on models with an OLED display. The question remained, however, to what extent the dark mode is able to extend the phone's battery life on a single charge and whether the user will fundamentally help himself by switching the interface to black. Latest test from PhoneBuff but it proves that the difference between Dark Mode and Light Mode is surprisingly large.
In its test, PhoneBuff used a robotic hand that performed the same actions on an iPhone XS in light mode and then in dark mode. The goal was to at least partially simulate normal phone use so that the results correspond as closely as possible to reality. The robotic arm was texting, scrolling through Twitter, playing YouTube videos and using Google Maps, spending exactly two hours in each application.
And the result? While using the bright mode, the iPhone XS discharged after 7 hours and 33 minutes, while using the dark mode, the phone still had 30% of battery left after the same time. The difference between Light Modem and Dark Modem is really significant. After switching the interface to dark mode it is therefore possible to significantly extend the life of the iPhone. Maybe even more than anyone would expect.
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During testing, the brightness of the display was set to the same value in both cases, namely 200 nits. In normal use, the results may therefore vary depending on the brightness level - especially when automatic brightness is switched on, when the values change according to the ambient light. Anyway, in all cases, Dark Mode is clearly more gentle on the battery.
It is also important to note that the results refer to iPhones with an OLED display. Dark Mode will thus extend the battery life of the iPhone X, iPhone XS (Max) and iPhone 11 Pro (Max). The other models (iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone 8 (Plus) and all older ones) have an LCD display, in which individual pixels light up even when displaying black, and therefore the dark interface here has no or only minimal effect.
