# Battery impact of dark mode in OLED screens

- Author: @gurupanguji
- Date: 2019-07-01
- URL: https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2019/07/01/battery-impact-of-dark-mode-in-oled-screens/
- Categories: essay

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<p>With both iOS and Android supporting dark mode, some interesting analyses on energy consumption savings of dark mode is now available. </p>
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<p>Personally, the most interesting takeaway is that dark grey (with significant accessibility improvements) is about as battery efficient as 'full black' (which still has some accessibility concerns). </p>
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<p><a href="https://www-xda--developers-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.xda-developers.com/amoled-black-vs-gray-dark-mode/amp/">XDA has more to read</a></p>
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<p>The fundamental cause seems to be the energy curve of OLED screens</p>
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="/assets/images/blog/gamma-300x297.png" alt="" /><figcaption>Energy consumption v luminance</figcaption></figure></div>
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<p>At the recommended 0.3% of luminance of white on a Oneplus Pro screen</p>
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="/assets/images/blog/op7p_power_efficacy.jpg" alt="" /></figure></div>
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<p>Now, barring unique display profile / configuration of the OnePlus Pro screen, this is a good scientific observation (also backed up by 2 real world measurement experiments). </p>
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<p>So, wonder why Apple is at least marketing pure black dark mode in the iOS 13 screenshots. </p>
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