iPhone 11 Pro Max Outperforms Competing Smartphones to Earn DisplayMate's Highest Ever A+ Grade - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iPhone 11 Pro Max Outperforms Competing Smartphones to Earn DisplayMate's Highest Ever A+ Grade

Apple's new iPhone 11 Pro Max has earned display testing and calibration firm DisplayMate's "highest ever A+ grade" for providing "considerably better display performance than other competing smartphones."

iphone 11 pro display
DisplayMate tested the iPhone 11 Pro Max's display and found "major" performance improvements compared to the iPhone XS Max's display, including increased peak brightness, improved absolute color accuracy, and slightly lower screen reflectance, all while being up to 15 percent more power efficient.

DisplayMate:

The iPhone 11 Pro Max is a Very Impressive Top Tier Smartphone Display

Apple has continued to raise the on-screen Absolute Picture Quality and Absolute Color Accuracy of their displays by implementing Precision Factory Display Calibration, moving the overall iPhone 11 Pro Max display performance up to Record Setting Outstanding levels, and setting or matching many Display Performance Records, including Absolute Color Accuracy at a very impressive 0.9 JNCD that is Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect, and almost certainly considerably better than your existing Smartphone, 4K UHD TV, Tablet, Laptop and computer monitor.

The iPhone 11 Pro Max also has a Record Full Screen Peak Brightness of 770 nits, and 820 nits for the typical Average Picture Level of 50%, which is roughly double of most high-end Smartphones. Compared to the iPhone XS Max, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a number of notable improvements including 17% higher Full Screen Peak Brightness and up to 15% higher Display Power Efficiency.

Read the full DisplayMate article for in-depth analysis of the iPhone 11 Pro Max's display and the methodology behind its testing.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Just Released a New Accessory

Monday May 4, 2026 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today released a new Pride Edition Sport Loop for the Apple Watch. The band features a rainbow design with 11 colors of woven nylon yarns. The new Pride Edition Sport Loop is available to order now on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm sizes, and it will be available at Apple Store locations starting later this week. In the U.S., the band costs $49. There...
Instagram Feature 2

PSA: Instagram Encrypted Messaging Ends on Friday, May 8

Tuesday May 5, 2026 8:24 am PDT by
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform. Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
iOS 26

Apple Says iOS 26.5 Adds Three New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday May 5, 2026 7:36 am PDT by
iOS 26.5 includes three new features for iPhones, according to Apple's release notes for the update, which is expected to be released next week. As discovered during beta testing, iOS 26.5 enables end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging between iOS and Android devices. Apple says this security upgrade is limited to supported carriers around the world and will continue to roll out....

Top Rated Comments

Pepe4life Avatar
87 months ago
But macrumors forum users tell me the screen is piss yellow and I need to return the phone 20x to get a perfect one???
Score: 70 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago
Wow Apple really has gone downhill under Cook. If Jobs was still CEO it would have scored a A++++ :(
/s
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Maclver Avatar
87 months ago

Imagine the score if a chunk of the screen wasn’t missing.
Ohhh. FFS give up on the notch... you act like it's half the display......
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rosegoldoli Avatar
87 months ago
cant wait to see how the negative nancys spin this to their favor on how iphones are doomed
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago

So predictable.

“The new iPhone has the best camera, cpu, gpu, display, <insert component name> that we have ever measured”.

Rinse repeat.
It needs to be repeated because many people around here claim the iPhone is "behind the times" and particularly behind in hardware.

Reality is the iPhone (particularly the Pro) has a world class screen, among the best cameras, best video, best silicon, and best GPU.

The software is also miles ahead in security, support, and privacy with an ecosystem unmatched by any competitor.

The iPhone is the clear leader for these reasons.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago

cant wait to see how the negative nancys spin this to their favor on how iphones are doomed
You’ve come to the right place then.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)