Samsung Display’s new M16 panel is blindingly bright, and Apple got it before Samsung did

Samsung Display has just unveiled its most advanced OLED panel for smartphones, and somewhat ironically, Samsung’s own phones aren’t first in line to use it. The new M16 OLED panel can reach a peak brightness of up to 10,000 nits, making it the brightest screen the company has built for a smartphone. However, it’s already been used in Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro series and the iPhone Duo before showing up on any Samsung device.

On the Android side, the M16 panel is making its debut in the iQOO 16, which just went official in China. Samsung Display detailed the panel alongside the iQOO 16’s announcement, and reports suggest it won’t stop there either. The Galaxy S27 Pro and Galaxy S27 Ultra are expected to get the same panel when they launch early next year.

Beyond the headline-grabbing brightness number, the M16 OLED falls under Samsung Display’s LEAD 2.0 series and packs in a solid list of upgrades. It supports a WQHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440 pixels), LTPO tech for a 1Hz to 165Hz variable refresh rate, up to 2,800 nits of global peak brightness, and 1.24x DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

The panel also gets 3,300Hz PWM dimming for reduced eye strain, a 5,000Hz touch sampling rate, an anti-reflective coating, and a polarizer-free (OCF) design. Samsung Display also claims the M16 panel consumes up to 30% less power than its predecessor, which should help offset the battery drain that comes with pushing brightness this high.

The announcement also puts an old rumor to rest. It was previously thought that Google was using M16 panels on the Pixel 11 series, but since Samsung Display is only just unveiling the panel now, the Pixel 11 lineup is almost certainly running on a previous-generation OLED panel instead.