Screen Brightness Test: Apple Watch Series 6 vs Apple Watch Series 5 [Video]

Check out this video comparing the screen brightness of the Apple Watch Series 6 versus the Apple Watch Series 5.

To perform this test we increased the screen brightness to maximum on both devices and disabled wrist detection. We used an all white photo background on the watch face for testing.

As expected the Apple Watch Series 6 performed better than the Apple Watch Series 5. Notably, we observed that the ambient light sensor on the Series 5 was highly active during testing. It immediately began to dim the display as soon our hand blocked light to the device. This did not happen with the Series 6.


We measured a peak brightness of 476 nits (cd/m2) on the Apple Watch Series 6 compared to 422 nits (cd/m2) on the Apple Watch Series 5, though the Series 5 measurement was difficult to obtain as it immediately began dimming down to around 234 nits.

The always-on display of the Apple Watch Series 6 measured higher than the Apple Watch Series 5 at 16 nits, compared to 12 nits on the Series 5 which quickly dimmed down to just 1 nit. For the always-on test we measured the brightness of the background image. Depending on the watch face, select elements like the digital time or watch hands are presented at a higher brightness level than the background.

Take a look at the video below and please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for more Apple news, videos, and tutorials.