Pixel 7 Pro could come with a much brighter display

Not all smartphone displays are made equally. Just because a phone has an FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate means it’s the same display as another phone that features similar specs. This is because there are differences in displays, such as brightness.

According to the Android 13 beta source code, it seems that Google could be adopting a much brighter display for their upcoming Pixel 7 Pro handset where it could top out at 600 nits. This is much brighter compared to its predecessor, the Pixel 6 Pro, which when its brightness is cranked to the max, tops out around 500 nits.

Pixel 6 Pro @ 100% brightness: 500 nits
Pixel 7 Pro @ 100% brightness: 600 nits

Pixel 6 Pro w/ HBM: 800 nits
Pixel 7 Pro w/ HBM: 1000 nits

This is all at 100% APL, so HBM at lower APL probably exceeds 1200 nits.

The BOE and P10/C10 panels also list 1000 nits max for HBM.

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) June 22, 2022

This means that if the Pixel 6 Pro’s display was a bit too dim for your liking, then the Pixel 7 Pro could solve that. What’s interesting is that back in May, there was a rumor suggesting that the Pixel 7 Pro might not be getting a display upgrade. It was rumored that it would feature the same resolution and refresh rate as its predecessor.

While those rumors could still very well hold true, this report does seem to hint that at the very least, it could be brighter. It will be interesting to see how much brighter a difference of 100 nits will be in the real world, so we’ll just have to wait for Google to officially confirm the specs to find out.