The Always-on Display feature has been available on Android smartphones for a long time, but this year it only appeared on Apple devices. In a recent update, the company has finalized and resolved the critical issues related to this mode. So DxOMark Laboratories decided to check how the constant display of information with the screen off affects battery life on both Android and iPhone.
How much does the Always-on Display impact on the autonomy of a smartphone? The comparison between Android and Apple devices shed light on the matter
For the experiment, four smartphones are used: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, Google Pixel 7 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos version) and Xiaomi 12S Ultra. All devices were tested for at least two days under the same conditions at a constant temperature of approximately 22°C, ambient light of 50 lux, and battery charge between 20% and 80%. This range, remember, is when the charge level is displayed as accurately as possible. The same settings were set on all devices. Therefore, airplane mode and adaptive screen refresh rate are turned on, and auto-brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and mobile data transfer are turned off.
Tests conducted by DxOMark experts show that activating the Always-on Display function causes an acceleration of smartphone discharge by about 4 times. For example, Xiaomi 12S Ultra without AoD worked under the above conditions for 495 hours, and after its activation - only 103 hours. In the case of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the autonomy has been reduced from 466 to 122 hours. Interestingly, the Pixel 7 Pro without AoD had the worst battery life, but lasted longer than the others when this feature was enabled.
Experts also measured the current consumption in milliamperes (mA) when using the always-on screen feature. iPhone 14 Pro Max, Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra were found to consume around 36mAh when AoD is on, and Xiaomi 12S Ultra consumes over 47mAh. In addition, the screens of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Xiaomi 12S Ultra are ten times brighter in Always-on Display mode than the other two devices. At the same time, it is interesting that the iPhone 14 Pro Max demonstrates the lowest power consumption at maximum brightness, which indicates that Apple is doing a good job optimizing this feature.
Interestingly, according to a survey conducted by DxOMark, 54% of users find the Always-on Display feature useful, while the remaining 46% are not so sure about the need for this option.
