A new rumor from Weibo tipster Instant Digital claims that the iPhone 16 Pro will offer a brighter display as compared to the iPhone 15 Pro. According to the leak, the manual or typical peak brightness will be 1200 nits, which is 20% higher as compared to the 1000 nits rating of the iPhone 15 Pro.

The leak also claims that the phone will offer 1600 nits of “excitation” brightness. It is a bit confusing as both the iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro already go up to 2000 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM). As 9to5Mac noted, the iPhone 15 Pro hits 1600 nits of peak brightness while showing HDR content. If that’s true, then the “excitation 1600 nit” could refer to the maximum brightness while displaying HDR content, meaning it stays the same.

The tipster Instant Digital reportedly has a mixed track record for Apple-related rumors. He has reportedly provided accurate information a couple of times in the past, which includes the launch timeline of last year’s Yellow iPhone 14, the frosted back glass of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, the Apple Watch Series 8 being a minor refresh, and more, support for Spatial Video in iPhone 15 Pro, and more.

For those unfamiliar, modern smartphones are programmed to hit different peak brightness levels based on different lighting conditions. While there can be different terms, the concept is pretty simple. The “Manual” or typical peak brightness refers to the max brightness that the phone will hit in indoor (not too bright) lighting conditions. The next is HBM (High Brightness Mode) which allows a higher brightness in strong outdoor lighting conditions. In addition to all these, some modern smartphones enable a crazy high “local peak brightness” for HDR content. In this case, only a small portion of the display reaches the high brightness level based on the content.

It’s not entirely clear what the term “excitation 1600” refers to in this leak. Nevertheless, the manual peak brightness, which has now been increased, remains practical for most of the time.

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