Why Anandtech iPhone 6 Display White Point is 6515 kelvin

[Ttomachas]

My question is why Anandtech iPhone display White Point is measured at 6515 while other websites got it at :
TomsHardware at 7138 :http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apple-iphone-6-plus-review,3976-17.html
Displaymate at 7241 : http://www.displaymate.com/iPhone6_ShootOut.htm
Gizmodo at 7300 : http://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-6-and-6-plus-have-the-best-lcd-screens-you-c-1637612720

Why the difference is so big here? What am I missing here?

Thanks

 

[Mopetar]

Could be due to differences in the manufacturer that supplied the panel. Apple typically sources parts from several vendors and have had issues in the past where certain components were superior to others or there were issues with only parts from a certain vendor.

 

[s44]

Cherry-picked samples? I mean the founder literally left to work for Apple.

 

[GTRagnarok]

Different methods. AnandTech measures the average white point over the range of brightness, while TomsHardware, for instance, only tests it at 200 nits brightness. Toms' values are consistently several hundred K higher.

 

[Commodus]

Cherry-picked samples? I mean the founder literally left to work for Apple.

Can we please drop the "he left to join Apple, so he was clearly on the payroll for years" conspiracy theories? They're getting a bit worn out at this point, even if you're kidding!

The more likely answer is the different testing methodology. Also, even panels from the same manufacturer can have some variances.

 

[Ttomachas]

Different methods. AnandTech measures the average white point over the range of brightness, while TomsHardware, for instance, only tests it at 200 nits brightness. Toms' values are consistently several hundred K higher.

I doubt different methods is the core cause here because white point of S6 are pretty consistent across different tech websites and only minor differences observed.
Let's pay attention that anadtech has very close S6 WB measurements compare to other testers across internet. That suggests to me methods used by different test labs have minor deviation yet iPhone 6 results differ a lot.
Tom'sHardware 6645K
Displaymate 6450K
Anandtech 6490K

 

[GTRagnarok]

I doubt different methods is the core cause here because white point of S6 are pretty consistent across different tech websites and only minor differences observed.
Let's pay attention that anadtech has very close S6 WB measurements compare to other testers across internet. That suggests to me methods used by different test labs have minor deviation yet iPhone 6 results differ a lot.
Tom'sHardware 6645K
Displaymate 6450K
Anandtech 6490K

Your confirmation bias is through the roof. The S6 result is simply explained by the fact that the S6 has arguably the best display on the market right now. It can probably maintain a good average white point at different brightnesses and particularly at 200 nits where most sites test their displays at.

That suggests to me methods used by different test labs have minor deviation yet iPhone 6 results differ a lot.

Why are you cherry picking the iPhone 6? Other devices differed significantly as well. Hell, TomsHardware's numbers vary between reviews. The iPhone 6 was 7138K in the initial review but went up to 7573 in the S6 review. iPhone 6+ from 7440 to 7817 in the Nexus 6 review.

 

[Ttomachas]

Your confirmation bias is through the roof. The S6 result is simply explained by the fact that the S6 has arguably the best display on the market right now. It can probably maintain a good average white point at different brightnesses and particularly at 200 nits where most sites test their displays at.


Why are you cherry picking the iPhone 6? Other devices differed significantly as well. Hell, TomsHardware's numbers vary between reviews. The iPhone 6 was 7138K in the initial review but went up to 7573 in the S6 review. iPhone 6+ from 7440 to 7817 in the Nexus 6 review.

Why do you have to be so rude? Soar point? It has nothing to do with me being biased. I enjoy both platforms regardless. Do not start to spread hatred . Do me a favour. I simply want to know why is it like this.
While S6 could be arguably the best display I still want to know why Iphone 6 kelvin differs so much.
Link me to the numbers , nits, that will explain such a big jump from 6515 to 7300 . That's a whole 800 jump!
" iPhone 6+ from 7440 to 7817 in the Nexus 6 review" It's not normal unless under different ambient conditions otherwise should explained by the tester.
Hope that makes a sense.

 

[sweenish]

It's been explained. Comprehend what you're reading.

 

[dawheat]

Could also just be the screen lottery - the iPhone 6 review itself remarked on how surprised they were at some of the display results, but didn't think they got a cherrypicked example since it had a hot pixel in the middle of the screen.

Either way - while measurements are nice, past certain thresholds for each test, it becomes a bit irrelevant since the difference isn't noticeable.

Displaymate's conclusion summed it up well enough - calling the IP6 display the best LCD screen you can buy.

 

[s44]

Can we please drop the "he left to join Apple, so he was clearly on the payroll for years" conspiracy theories?

Not what I was suggesting at all.

Anand had contacts at Apple. He was also a big advocate of screen calibration. So it makes sense that Apple would send their best-calibrated sample in for review.

 

[Ttomachas]

Not what I was suggesting at all.

Anand had contacts at Apple. He was also a big advocate of screen calibration. So it makes sense that Apple would send their best-calibrated sample in for review.

Surprisingly Iphone 6 plus resides at 7011. Could be true they got very well calibrated 6 unit but that's only speculation. I would love to hear Anandtech thoughts regarding it however I doubt they will ever respond.

 

[Commodus]

Not what I was suggesting at all.

Anand had contacts at Apple. He was also a big advocate of screen calibration. So it makes sense that Apple would send their best-calibrated sample in for review.

My apologies, and that's a possibility. The catch is that it's virtually impossible to verify this, since you're likely never going to get access to Apple's internal PR email -- the team certainly wasn't going to tell Anand.

I'm more concerned about DisplayMate's willingness to test pre-release Galaxy S/Note phones delivered by Samsung itself. It's one thing to get a phone for review a week or two early (many phone makers have small batches ready before launch), it's another to explicitly agree to be part of a marketing ploy.

 

[soccerballtux]

Can we please drop the "he left to join Apple, so he was clearly on the payroll for years" conspiracy theories? They're getting a bit worn out at this point, even if you're kidding!

The more likely answer is the different testing methodology. Also, even panels from the same manufacturer can have some variances.

ok, but the rallying for Swiftkey (which sucks) and flip-flop onto 'opportunistic charging' don't make any sense except in light of the purchase

 

[Mopetar]

Surprisingly Iphone 6 plus resides at 7011. Could be true they got very well calibrated 6 unit but that's only speculation. I would love to hear Anandtech thoughts regarding it however I doubt they will ever respond.

If they were sending out cherry-picked review units, one would think that there would be more consistency across the devices that were being sent out.

Samsung likely has more consistency because they supply their own panels, so one wouldn't expect to find the same variance that other products have when the components come from two or more different manufacturers.

 

[Ttomachas]

Different methods. AnandTech measures the average white point over the range of brightness, while TomsHardware, for instance, only tests it at 200 nits brightness. Toms' values are consistently several hundred K higher.

Some interesting fact that I have personally been told by Bob Mathew from Displaymate. I wrote him email two days ago and today he replied to me. Here is one of his quotes:" On LCDs the backlight brightness has absolutely no effect on the White Point chromaticity and Color Temperature."

 

[pm]

Surprisingly Iphone 6 plus resides at 7011. Could be true they got very well calibrated 6 unit but that's only speculation. I would love to hear Anandtech thoughts regarding it however I doubt they will ever respond.

It's been my experience that the Anandtech review authors don't generally read this forum - I'm not on Anandtech's staff, I'm an unpaid volunteer. If you want them to answer a question, in my experience the best way to contact them is to ask them on Twitter.

Ryan Smith would be a good person:
https://twitter.com/ryansmithat

 

[Ttomachas]

It's been my experience that the Anandtech review authors don't generally read this forum - I'm not on Anandtech's staff, I'm an unpaid volunteer. If you want them to answer a question, in my experience the best way to contact them is to ask them on Twitter.

Ryan Smith would be a good person:
https://twitter.com/ryansmithat

Thanks pm!
I actually wrote an email to anandtech stuff yesterday.Still awaiting for reply. But will probably write directly to Ryan as you suggest.
Displaymate took 2 days to reply to my email I wrote and CEO him self replied to me!

 

[pm]

Thanks pm!
I actually wrote an email to anandtech stuff yesterday.Still awaiting for reply. But will probably write directly to Ryan as you suggest.
Displaymate took 2 days to reply to my email I wrote and CEO him self replied to me!

Email should work but might take a while. Twitter, on the other hand, seems to work really quickly. In fact, as I recall I signed up for Twitter specifically to ask one of the AT authors a question one time.

If you don't get a reply within a day or two to your email or your "tweet", post back up and I will see if I can request that one of them come over here and read the thread.

 

[Hunt3rj2]

Ryan pointed me to this thread so I figured I should respond directly to this question.

I've asked at least a few people within the industry at this point and as far as I can tell calibration of displays is usually done on a batch basis because calibrating every unit is expensive and would take up significant amounts of time. As a result, there's definitely some level of variance from display to display on just about every phone, especially in white point.

I strongly doubt that Apple would send us a ringer, given that there's relatively little to gain in our review process from pushing dE2000 averages below about 2.5, and plenty to lose in terms of PR fallout and backlash. Given that the iPad Air 2 review unit ended up at around 7000k, I suspect that the iPhone 6's 6515k CCT average was just coincidence.

 

[soccerballtux]

Some interesting fact that I have personally been told by Bob Mathew from Displaymate. I wrote him email two days ago and today he replied to me. Here is one of his quotes:" On LCDs the backlight brightness has absolutely no effect on the White Point chromaticity and Color Temperature."

good point. you might need to clarify that with LED-LCDs.

a CCFL's backlight MIGHT change depending on brightness, but I don't know.

 

[soccerballtux]

is there a particular whitepoint that's 'better'?

My first Nexus 5 was great

second ... a bit yellow. People online said it's 'glue' that dries.

It doesn't dry, lol, you just get used to it.

oh well.