We put the Apple iPhone 16 through our rigorous SBMARK Display test suite to measure its performance across four criteria. In the results of this test, we will analyze how it performed in a series of tests and in several common use cases.
Overview
Key display specifications
- 6.1 inches, Retina OLED
- Dimensions: 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm (5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches)
- Resolution: 1179 x 2556 pixels, (density ~460 ppi)
- Aspect ratio: 19.5:9
- Refresh rate: 60Hz
Pro
- Nice and accurate colors when viewing the screen indoors and outdoors
- Well-rendered HDR10 video indoors and in low-light conditions
- Good readability in indoor and outdoor conditions
Against
- Inconsistent average brightness in HDR10 and SDR video
- Lack of display fluidity due to 60Hz screen
- Low luminance and contrast under certain conditions, affecting readability
The Apple iPhone 16 delivered solid display performance as the base model in the 16 series, providing excellent brightness in nearly all conditions tested for a generally satisfying readability experience.
However, if the automatic screen brightness is adapted to a smartphone control in the middle of the night, it was too low when our eyes were not perfectly adapted to the dark room conditions, making it difficult to read the display. In these cases, manual brightness adjustment may be necessary.
The display’s colors were accurate and pleasant, although a slight orange cast affected rendering when viewing HDR10 photos and videos with True Tone enabled.
The video viewing experience in indoor conditions was satisfactory in terms of brightness, suitable for HDR10 content indoors. In low light, SDR content suffered from low contrast and brightness, while HDR content provided a satisfactory experience. Therefore, the user experience is clouded by a brightness mismatch between SDR and HDR, creating “jumps” in brightness when switching between SDR and HDR content. However, the management of frame drop and screen motion blur is very good.
Touch reactions on the iPhone 16 were fast and precise, but it was sometimes difficult to interact with the corners of the device, and the device suffered from many inadvertent touches when held in landscape mode. Additionally, when you hold the phone with one hand and tap the Camera Control button, the touchscreen occasionally becomes unresponsive.
Although some comparable devices in this category have increased the screen refresh rate, the iPhone 16’s refresh rate remains at 60 Hz, which could affect the smoothness of the display.
The iPhone 16 proved to be a visually comfortable device to use in low light conditions, thanks to the acceptable level of flicker, well-controlled luminance, color consistency and effective blue light filtering, the key factors that made it helped earn the SBMARK Eye Comfort label.
Test summary
About SBMARK display tests: For scoring and analysis, a device is subjected to a series of objective and perceptual tests under controlled laboratory and real-life conditions. The SBMARK Display Score takes into account the overall user experience provided by the screen, considering hardware capability and software optimization. Only factory-installed video and photo apps are used during testing. More in-depth details on how SBMARK tests displays can be found in the article “A Closer Look at SBMARK Display Testing.”
The following section focuses on the key elements of our comprehensive testing and analysis performed in SBMARK laboratories. Comprehensive reports with detailed performance evaluations are available upon request. To order a copy, contact us.
How the display readability score is composed
Readability evaluates the user’s ease and comfort in viewing stationary content, such as photos or a web page, on the display under different lighting conditions. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Skin tone rendering in an indoor environment (1000 lux).
From left to right: Apple iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 9
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
Skin tone rendering in a sunny environment (>90,000 lux).
From left to right: Apple iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 9
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
SCI stands for Specular Component Included, which measures both diffuse reflection and specular reflection. The reflectance of a simple glass plate is around 4%, while it reaches around 6% for a plastic plate. Although the first surface of smartphones is glass, their total reflectance (uncoated) is usually around 5% due to multiple reflections created by the complex optical stack.
The average reflectance is calculated based on the spectral reflectance in the visible spectrum range (see graph below) and human spectral sensitivity.
Uniformity
This graph shows the luminance distribution across the entire display panel. Uniformity is measured with a 20% gray pattern, with bright green indicating ideal luminance. An evenly distributed bright green color across the screen indicates that the display brightness is uniform. Other colors indicate a loss of uniformity.
Displays flicker for 2 main reasons: refresh rate and pulse width modulation. Pulse width modulation is a modulation technique that generates pulses of variable width to represent the amplitude of an analog input signal. This measurement is important for comfort because low-frequency flickering can be perceived by some individuals and, in more extreme cases, can induce seizures. Some experiments show that discomfort can occur more frequently. A high PWM frequency (>1500 Hz) tends to disturb users less.
How the display color score is composed
Color evaluations are performed under different lighting conditions to see how well the device handles color with its surroundings. The devices are tested with sRGB and Display-P3 image models. Both faithful mode and default mode are used for our evaluation. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Circadian action factor is a metric that defines the impact of light on the human sleep cycle. It is the ratio between the light energy that contributes to sleep disorders (centered around 450 nm, representing blue light) and the light energy that contributes to our perception (covering 400 nm to 700 nm and centered at 550 nm, which is green light). A high circadian action factor means that the ambient light contains strong blue light energy and is likely to affect the body’s sleep cycle, while a low circadian action factor means that the light has weak blue light energy and is less likely to affect sleep patterns.
How the Display Video score is composed
The video attribute evaluates the handling of Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and High Dynamic Range (HDR10) video in indoor and low-light conditions. Our measurements performed in laboratories are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
HDR video rendering in a low light environment (0 lux).
Clockwise from top left: Apple iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 9
(Photo for illustrative purposes only)
These indicators present the percentage of frame irregularity in a 30-second video. These irregularities are not necessarily perceived by users (unless they are all with the same timestamp) but are an indicator of performance.
How the Display Touch score is composed
We evaluate touch attributes in many types of content where touch is critical and requires different behaviors such as gaming (fast touch and response times), web (smooth page scrolling), and images (accurate and smooth navigation from image to image). other ).
Start a new Thread