Display Brightness: Maximum & Minimum
A display’s brightness or luminance—measured in candelas per square meter (cd/m2) or nits—affects its visibility in different lighting conditions. A higher maximum brightness makes the screen easier to see in bright conditions such as a brightly lit room or in direct sunlight outdoors. For a dimly lit room or at night, a lower minimum brightness is preferable to keep your screen from blinding you or bothering others around you.
To measure the maximum brightness, the brightness slider is adjusted to its upper bound and a 100% white pattern is displayed onscreen. The minimum brightness is measured the same way, but with the brightness slider set to its lower bound.
The values we report for maximum and minimum brightness represent what’s achievable with the stock brightness slider. Sometimes, however, higher or lower values can be “unlocked” by using a third-party app to control the screen brightness—the mapping of slider positions to luminance values is set by the OEM and may be capped below the hardware’s true limits. These unlocked values may be reported in addition to the stock values if there’s a significant difference between the two.