Android dark mode helps save battery

We have known for a long time that dark mode apps can greatly extend battery life in smartphones with OLED displays. This is because the individual pixels are turned off in the dark areas of the screen, and they use virtually no power when displaying true black.

Google recognizes the great value of dark mode to save battery

Google reiterated this during its Android Dev Summit this week, showing several slides comparing the power consumption of several different colors. The company used its original Pixel smartphone for these comparisons. You can see that white uses more energy than any other background color. This led Google to recognize that the great use of white in its own applications and Android style guidelines is far less than ideal.

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Fortunately, the company seems to recognize the value of dark mode. YouTube and Android messages already have it, and Google is also incorporating the feature into its Phone app and testing it on the mobile Google Feed. Android can also be configured as a dark theme for quick setup and app drawer, but it hasn't reached the point of adding a system-wide dark mode yet, something Samsung plans to do with its new One UI.

The energy savings of the dark mode are evident, and can greatly extend the battery life of a smartphone with an OLED-type panel. In the case of IPS displays, this energy saving is much smaller, since they always keep the backlight activated throughout the panel. Do you use in dark mode on your smartphone with an OLED panel?

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