Weibo user Instant Digital posted a rumor claiming that the iPhone 16 Pro will have a 20% brighter display than its predecessor.
We are not talking about peak HDR brightness – rather, this is a typical brightness. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro has a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits, while the iPhone 16 Pro is said to reach 1,200 nits.
It appears that the High Brightness Mode will remain the same, although manufacturers often quote the number they prefer, but now there are multiple modes to consider. Among the brightness modes are manual, typical, High Brightness Mode, High Brightness Mode (which comes on when Auto Brightness is set to on a bright sunny day, for example), and HDR peak brightness, which can be much higher than any other on very specific (and usually tiny) areas of the screen.
According to this rumor, the iPhone 16 Pro will have the same High Brightness Mode peak of 1,600 nits as its predecessor, but its predecessor can actually go up to 2,000 nits, so there is clearly some confusion here.
Despite its mixed track record with Apple-related rumors, the account in question did predict several Apple launches accurately, so there’s that.
Regardless, an increased screen brightness wouldn’t be a surprise at all for Apple, since increased brightness has also been a trend recently in the Android world. Since the iPhone 13 Pro was introduced in 2021, the typical brightness has been 1,000 nits, so an increase is probably due.
