GoKawiilImproving battery life on a phone is often a big focus, especially as we increasingly use our phones for everything from watching movies to experimenting with generative AI features. And we know people are looking for solutions to help extend their battery life, whether it's finding new phones with better batteries or making use of power banks. A CNET survey from May 2026 found that 58% of smartphone owners are frustrated with their device's battery life. In fact, longer battery life (52%) is the second biggest driver (after price at 55%) of their decision to get a new phone.
But as phones and other electronics keep getting more expensive, you may want to look into other ways to get more use out of the phone that you have -- including ways to improve its battery life. The good news is that if your phone happens to have an OLED or AMOLED display, there are a few simple tweaks you can make to help cut down on how fast its battery drains to power that screen. And there's a good chance you indeed have a phone with this type of screen tech: According to a Counterpoint Research report from May, about 87% of smartphones in the US do.
Can these two settings really help save battery on OLED smartphones?
A dark wallpaper on an OLED display phone can help save battery. Prakhar Khanna/CNET
The display is the most active part of your smartphone -- and to save battery, we need to find ways to reduce its workload. An easy way to do this is by adding a black wallpaper and enabling dark mode on your device.
The OLED panel then draws very low power because of its structure. It works on a per-pixel basis as opposed to having a constant backlight to light up the pixels (LCD), which consumes around 30% higher average current than Dynamic AMOLED, according to a paper published in IEEE.
If you add a black background to your homescreen, it will turn off most pixels on an OLED-equipped smartphone, allowing it to last longer on a single charge. Some might believe it to be a myth, but according to another research paper from IEEE, black color consumes the lowest power (~250 mW). In comparison, white is the most power consuming color on an OLED display, taking up around 1,250 mW of energy from the battery.
You'll notice a significant difference in battery efficiency between light mode and dark mode when you're using the phone in direct sunlight. With the brightness cranked up to the maximum, dark mode (and its dark background on apps) consumes significantly less power, as compared to light mode and its white background.
However, setting a deep black background on the home screen could result in higher contrast and readability issues for some people. A 2025 study from the University North, Croatia, found that the background color on a digital system has a significant effect on readability. It found a specific shade of dark grey (#121212) to "significantly reduce the number of reading errors," whereas dark blue (#15202B) led to faster reading of text.
If you want the best of efficiency and readability on your OLED display smartphone, you should opt for a dark grey background in dark mode. Here's how to set up both settings on your iPhone or Android device.
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