HONOR is reportedly working on a smartphone with a 10,000mAh battery (again), but that’s not the most interesting feature. According to Digital Chat Station over on Weibo, HONOR is also putting in a screen with a peak brightness of 10,000 nits.
This might lead you to wonder, who is actually making display panels with that kind of brightness? TCL CSOT is. In fact, TCL CSOT showed off a unit with a 15,000nit 6.9″ display back at MWC in March. I got to take a look at it, and it’s mighty impressive, especially considering it is an OLED. It’s really noticeable once you view HDR content on the panel, versus regular SDR content.
But why would HONOR want to use such a bright display on a smartphone? Because they can. There’s really no need to go to 10,000nits for peak brightness. I just published the HONOR Magic V6 review, which has a 6,000nit display, and it was plenty bright. We really don’t need anything to be almost twice as bright.
“Peak brightness” is often a gimmicky number
The problem with using peak brightness in spec sheets is that the number isn’t for the whole panel. Typically, that is a number for one specific area of the panel. So when you hear that the Magic V6 has a 6,000nit peak brightness display, that’s just one part of the display. So it’s more of a gimmick than anything, and it’s a number that you will never see unless you’re in a lab.
The more important number is HBM or high brightness mode. This is a number that you can actually see, as it refers to auto or adaptive brightness. Google actually uses the term “HDR brightness” on its Pixel devices. HBM is a better measurement because it measures the whole screen, and it’s the brightness you’ll actually see in day-to-day usage.
But 10,000nit is definitely impressive on a phone that is going to be sold, versus just a prototype like what TCL CSOT was showing in Barcelona.
The post I’ve Seen a 15,000nit Display in Person, and HONOR’s rumored 10,000nit Phone Is Still Overkill appeared first on Android Headlines.
