Ever since dark modebecame a part of devices , users have been divided into two groups: those who love dark mode and those who hate it. However, a new video that has been released may change the way the latter view the feature.
Dark mode saves battery
According to a video published by the PhoneBuff, dark mode on an iPhone XS is proven to save battery, compared to normal light mode.
To conduct the test, they used two iPhone XS models, setting one to dark mode and the other to normal light mode.
With the help of robotics devices, the two phones performed the same tasks, which included texting for almost two hours, browsing Twitter (for two hours), and another two hours watching videos on YouTube.
The two devices were then used to navigate using Google Maps, which was supposed to take another two hours. However, the iPhone XS in regular light mode was completely drained before the two hours were up, making the iPhone XS in dark mode the winner.
By the end of the test, the iPhone XS with dark mode enabled had 30% battery life, suggesting that the feature can save up to 30% more battery than regular light mode.
Pros and cons
While dark mode seems to have a significant benefit, it's worth noting that the iPhone XS has an OLED. This suggests that the battery-saving potential of using the feature is possible on smartphones with OLED displays, not on devices with LCD displays.
This is because dark mode works best on OLED displays, as OLED pixels are completely turned off, while LCD pixels still emit some light.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the test was performed on applications compatible with the feature. Therefore, the results in other cases may be different.
Google (at Annual Summit 2018) confirmed that dark mode on Android saves battery, which is expected to be true for iOS models as well. And this video comes to confirm those claims.
