A Small iPhone 16 Pro Feature Is My Unexpected Hit of the Year

If you were asked to list the changes in the iPhone 16 Pro, what would come to mind? Probably camera controls, improved battery, improved cameras, upcoming Apple Intelligence, and so on. These are obviously the main new features. But there's one small update that continually surprises me: the minimum brightness of the new iPhone 16 display.

Minimum Brightness Is a Newly Published Spec

Until this year, when Apple talked about iPhone display brightness, it always focused on the highs, not the lows.

Maximum brightness is an important spec for the iPhone. You want to be able to use your device outdoors, in the sun, on the go.

But many of us also use our iPhones indoors, in a dark room, lying in bed.

That's where minimum brightness really matters.

The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are the first to publish “minimum brightness” specifications for an iPhone.

Each device has a minimum brightness of 1 nit.

Why Reduced Brightness Matters

Why does this matter, you ask?

Because it means you can use your iPhone in the dark without disturbing anyone sleeping around you.

Most of the time, it will look like you're using your phone in bed while your significant other sleeps next to you.

I was in a hotel room this week after evacuating from Florida with my one-year-old sleeping next to me. The new minimum brightness on the iPhone 16 Pro allowed me to use my phone without disturbing him.

Since Apple doesn't publish the minimum brightness for previous iPhone models, it's hard to say exactly how much darker the iPhone 16 Pro is compared to previous models. But comparing it to my old iPhone 15 Pro definitely revealed a noticeable difference.