Samsung Display and iQOO announces M16 OLED with 10,000 nits peak brightness in “world’s 1st” reveal
Samsung Display has detailed its latest smartphone OLED technology, and one of its biggest highlights is an impressive 10,000 nits of peak local brightness. The new M16 OLED panel has been unveiled alongside the iQOO 16, which will be among the first Android phones to take advantage of the technology.
The M16 OLED material itself isn’t completely new to the market, as Samsung Display is already supplying the technology for Apple’s recently announced iPhone 18 Pro series and iPhone Duo. However, the version being used for the iQOO 16 pushes the brightness significantly higher and comes with several other improvements aimed at gaming, image quality, and power efficiency.
10,000 peak brightness in an OLED panel
That 10,000-nit figure does come with an important catch, though. It refers to peak local brightness, meaning only a small portion of the display can reach that level for a limited amount of time. The entire screen won’t run at anywhere close to 10,000 nits during normal use. For the full panel, global peak brightness is rated at a much more realistic 2,800 nits, which is still plenty for outdoor visibility and HDR content.
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Aside from that, the M16 panel offers a WQHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 and can dynamically adjust its refresh rate from as low as 1Hz all the way up to 165Hz. The lower end helps reduce unnecessary power consumption when the screen is displaying static content, while 165Hz should provide smoother motion in supported games and other high-refresh-rate content.
Samsung has also given the panel a 5,000Hz touch sampling rate, allowing it to detect touch inputs much more frequently. This should be particularly useful for competitive mobile gaming, where faster input response can make a difference. Another major improvement is efficiency. Samsung claims the new display can consume up to 30% less power than its previous M14 OLED panels.
The iQOO 16 will be one of the first Android devices to use the new M16 OLED technology, shipping with the “world’s 1st 2K 165Hz Display” on a smartphone. Samsung is also reportedly planning to bring M16 panels to its own Galaxy S27 Pro and Galaxy S27 Ultra, though those devices have yet to be officially announced.
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