iPhone 13 Pro Max Earns DisplayMate's Best Smartphone Display Award - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iPhone 13 Pro Max Earns DisplayMate's Best Smartphone Display Award

DisplayMate today awarded the iPhone 13 Pro Max with its "Best Smartphone Display Award." The device earned the company's highest-ever display performance grade of A+ and set or matched 12 of its smartphone display performance records.

iphone 13 pro max display
iPhone 13 Pro models feature a new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, which is Apple's branding for a variable refresh rate between 10Hz and 120Hz. This technology allows the display to refresh from a power-preserving 10 times per second to an ultra smooth 120 times per second depending on the type of content that is on the screen.

One of the records that the iPhone 13 Pro Max set was highest full-screen brightness for smartphones with OLED displays, according to DisplayMate's in-depth analysis. Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a max brightness of 1,000 nits for typical content and 1,200 nits for HDR content. By comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a max brightness of 800 nits for typical content and 1,200 nits for HDR content.

Other records set or matched by the iPhone 13 Pro Max include highest absolute color accuracy, highest contrast ratio, lowest screen reflectance, and more.

Samsung is the exclusive supplier of the LTPO OLED panels used for the iPhone 13 Pro Max, according to Display Supply Chain Consultants, but LG is reportedly aiming to begin supplying Apple with LTPO OLED panels as early as next year.

DisplayMate extensively tested the iPhone 13 Pro Max's display, so make sure to read the full analysis for more details.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Dark Cherry Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Reportedly Starts With 256GB of Storage

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:22 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro has double the base storage compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, there will apparently be no further increase this year. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce today again reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models will start with 256GB of storage, like the iPhone 17 Pro models. Minimum storage capacities by model:iPhone 16 Pro: 128GB iPhone 17 Pro: 256GB iPhone 18 Pro...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...
iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...

Top Rated Comments

spiderman0616 Avatar
65 months ago
That's weird, I read just a couple of days ago on these here very forums that the OLED displays Apple uses for iPhone are "garbage" and "unusable".
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
65 months ago

Produced by Samsung, calibrated for color accuracy by Apple.
You are completely wrong. These are 100% screens made according to technology developed by Apple. They have nothing to do with Samsung, except that Apple is hiring them as the final contractor. The same screens are produced for Apple by several other companies, including LG.
Apple is brighter, has a different coating, has a different color scheme.
Not many people know about it, but Apple has powerful laboratories dealing with screen technologies.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
the future Avatar
65 months ago

You are completely wrong. These are 100% screens made according to technology developed by Apple. They have nothing to do with Samsung, except that Apple is hiring them as the final contractor. The same screens are produced for Apple by several other companies, including LG.
Apple is brighter, has a different coating, has a different color scheme.
Not many people know about it, but Apple has powerful laboratories dealing with screen technologies.
Exactly. The displays are „from Samsung“ in the same way the A15/M1 chips are „from TSMC“.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
65 months ago

iPhones with OLED displays use PWM, therefore they automatically are garbage and should not be winning any awards.

Shame on Apple for using PWM in their displays.

Shame on MacRumors for never reporting about this as being a major issue.
That would be because, for the vast majority of people, it isn’t an issue. And blue light doesn’t prevent sleep. And you are almost certainly not allergic to gluten.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
65 months ago
My 13 Pro has the best display I've ever seen, it really blew me away. Coupled with the 120Hz VRR it's incredible, worth every penny.

Also I compared it side by side with my wife's 13 Mini and I do notice the difference the 120Hz makes, the 13 Mini felt a bit choppy. I think if you don't let yourself get used to it then it's fine.

I just wish the new MacBook Pro's had a 120Hz VRR OLED display.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
65 months ago
Best display, best camera, fastest processor. So much winning.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)