What does nits mean in a screen and why is it important before buying any phone?
At some point, you will hear that a mobile phone display has x or y number of nits, as manufacturers highlight it in their specifications. A clear example of this is the recent Galaxy S24 display, which has 2,600 nits, making it an incredible display. But do nits matter? We can say yes, because the more nits, the brighter and therefore better the view on the screen.
In this post, we will explain in detail what they are and why they should be larger on your screen. This way, you will understand how important these things are and be aware of them when buying a mobile device. You will also know why the number of lumens on your screen is important. Without further ado, let’s take a look at all the information.
- What are nits?
Before we tell you what nits are, you need to know how the quantity is measured and why it is made up. The standard measure of how bright an object is is the lumen, which is a bit complicated to define. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux emitted from the focus of a point of intensity of one candela at a solid angle of one steradian. Yes, you may not understand what we are talking about but that is the exact definition of what a lumen is.
We will explain what a candela is and then give you a basic understanding of what nits are. A candela is a unit of luminous intensity that is equivalent to the surface area of 1/600,000 m2 of a black body at the platinum fusion temperature (1770 °C).
You probably don’t know anything we just said because you’re not an engineer. But in short, a candela measures the luminous intensity of an object of a certain size, and a lumen measures the amount of light an object emits in a certain direction. When these two units are combined, they create quantity, intensity, and volume. What are nits? It’s a way of saying candela per square meter (lumen combined with candle). On the other hand, the term nit comes from the Latin word “Nitere” which means to shine.
-What do nits mean on our screen?
Nits are used to measure the amount of light emitted from a given area (screen). In this way, it is said that the higher the number of nits, the brighter the screen. That is, the nits may vary depending on the manufacturer and the screen. But always remember that the higher the number, the brighter and better it looks outdoors. Although it has a negative point, as the higher the brightness, the more battery consumption.
We recommend having manual brightness and adjusting it according to the outdoor light to save battery life. Finally, nits are candela per square meter and measure the light emitted in a given area. Finally, the more nits your phone has, the better it will look outdoors as the screen can be seen more clearly in the sun, but it will hurt battery life.