Google figures show effect of dark mode on battery consumption OLED screens Android

Google has shown figures on how much power consumption is reduced on OLED screens when developers use a dark interface instead of a light one. In recent years, Google wanted developers to use lightweight interfaces.

For example, at full brightness, the YouTube app on a Google Pixel smartphone draws 96mA in dark mode, while the same app draws 239mA in light mode. At Google Maps, that is 250mA to 92mA, Slashgear reports based on a presentation by Google at its own Android Dev Summit. There is no such difference in power consumption on LCDs, because the power consumption depends on the backlight. On OLED screens, the pixels that should display black are off, so that the screen as a whole requires less power.

The difference in power consumption is not so great in all cases. At 50 percent brightness, the difference is smaller; for example, in YouTube it is 8 percent, in Gboard keyboard it is 5 percent. As a result, the advantage of a dark mode seems to be diminishing quickly.

Google wants developers to include the dark mode option in apps, even though Material Design is largely based on a light color scheme. Android on Google Pixel phones has a limited dark mode. Other phones have it more extensive, such as the upcoming One UI for Samsung Galaxy smartphones and current themes for smartphones from the likes of Samsung, Huawei and many other manufacturers.