The iPhone 5 Display Analyzed: Is It An Upgrade?

Continuing their normal grind, AnandTech has continued to test the various aspects of the iPhone 5. Today they have released a thorough analysis of the display on Apple’s latest smartphone. Despite the pixels-per-inch remaining at 326 and the display size being pushed-up a half-inch, the maximum brightness and contrast has seen slight improvements.

On launch day, the iPhone 5 display was specified at a 800:1 contrast ratio with 500 nits of brightness. AnandTech has completed testing to see if those numbers hold up, using a calMAN 5 and SpectraCal C6 colorimeter. Measurements were taken multiple times for accuracy and compared up against an iPhone 4.

The first test found that the backlight on the iPhone 5 was significantly better than the one found on the iPhone 4. Since the smartphone had a maximum backlight of 562 nits, Apple’s estimated figure was correct. The iPhone 5 even saw an improvement on the absolute minimum backlight figure, at 8 nits.

Below is another chart for readings on the black levels of brightness. Having a lower number is better, but seeing that users can change the backlight, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Now for the contrast ratio reading. The iPhone 5 comes out as the winner of this one as it clearly has the higher contrast ratio when at minimum and maximum backlight levels.

If you would like a deeper analysis of the iPhone 5’s display I would visit AnandTech for further details. They have grayscale charts, sRGB charts, Gamma target graphs, and much more.

Oh, and to answer the question in the title, yes the iPhone 5 display is an upgrade. Its 4-inches result in overall better brightness and contrast levels.