Last year we tested the iPhone 17’s anti-reflective (AR) performance, and the results sparked a lot of curiosity. The iPhone 17 lineup introduced Ceramic Shield 2, the first iPhone display with a factory anti-reflective coating built in, which cut reflections by about half compared to the iPhone 16.
Many of you asked how iPhone’s new AR display compares to the competition in the mobile device space.
This year, we re-ran the same lab tests, now including the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and the popular Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Three takeaways from the data
- Samsung outperforms Apple: The Galaxy S26 Ultra has a display that’s twice as anti-reflective as the latest iPhone models.
- iPhone 18 models have the same AR as iPhone 17: The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max deliver the same anti-reflective performance as last year’s iPhone 17, no better, no worse. If you upgraded hoping for less glare, you’re getting last year’s result.
- Fresh Coat 2.0 outperforms any bare phone screen: Of everything we tested, Astropad’s Fresh Coat screen protector has the best anti-reflective performance, reflecting just 13% of light. That beats every phone in the lineup, including Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra, this year’s best phone display at 25%.
Who are we? → Astropad designs and manufactures screen protectors for iPhone & iPad.
Our R&D lab routinely evaluates the state of the art in display and surface technologies to ensure our products meet the highest performance standards.
Lab setup and how we measure reflections
To better understand the performance of phone displays, we set up a controlled test designed to measure how much light various screens will reflect under the same conditions.
Measuring device
Reflectance measurements were conducted using a broadband illumination source spanning the visible spectrum, incident on the test surface at a fixed angle of 20° relative to the surface normal.
The specularly reflected component was captured by a calibrated photometric sensor positioned at the corresponding reflection angle, minimizing contributions from diffuse scatter. This configuration was chosen to approximate real-world off-axis viewing while maintaining a well-defined optical geometry.
Black mirror reference
A calibrated black mirror was measured first to establish an upper-bound reference for specular reflectance at the air–glass interface, as its surface exhibits minimal absorption and negligible anti-reflective behavior. This reference enabled normalization of subsequent measurements and facilitated direct comparison across devices.
Using this baseline, identical measurements were performed on a range of smartphone displays and screen protectors. All samples were tested under consistent alignment, illumination intensity, and environmental conditions to isolate the contribution of surface coatings and layer interfaces to overall reflectance.
These measurements focus on specular reflectance and do not capture diffuse scattering or haze effects, which are more relevant to matte display treatments.
Show me the data!
The data below compares the percentage of light reflected by different smartphone displays and our iPhone screen protector under identical test conditions, where lower values indicate better anti-reflective performance.
A calibrated black mirror reference is included to illustrate the upper bound of reflectance measured by the instrument. Screens approaching the top of the scale have little to no anti-reflective treatment, as their reflectivity closely approximates that of a black mirror (useful if you ever need to check your hair in bright sunlight!).
Android performance
Among the phones we tested, Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra had the best anti-reflective performance, reflecting 25% of light, better than any iPhone, but still more reflective than Fresh Coat.
iPhone performance
Apple’s iPhones show a wide spread. The iPhone 16 Pro reflects 94% of light, near the top of the scale. The iPhone 17 Pro drops to 49% thanks to Apple’s factory anti-reflective coating, and that same coating carries over to the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which measure the same 49%.
If you upgraded to a new iPhone this year hoping for less glare, it performs identically to last year’s model.
What is anti-reflective (AR) coating?
An anti-reflective coating is a thin optical layer that reduces glare and surface reflections. By design, these coatings minimize how much light bounces off a reflective surface (like glass) and enable more light to pass through to the display beneath it.
As a result, your screen appears brighter, clearer, and easier to see in tough lighting conditions. The AR coating keeps text crisp, colors accurate, and on-screen details visible, even in bright sunlight.
To achieve this effect, AR coatings work through a process called destructive interference. Ultra-thin layers of material are stacked on the surface of the glass, each with slightly different optical properties. These layers are tuned so that reflected light waves from each layer cancel one another out. The process depends on precise thickness, refractive index, and the presence of air above the coating (important!) to create the right interference pattern.
This level of fine-tuning is what makes AR coatings so effective, and why small changes in materials or surface conditions can dramatically alter how they perform.
Practical benefits of AR
When you’re outdoors on a bright day, sunlight is thousands of times stronger than the light coming from your screen. Those two light sources are competing with one another. When even a small percentage of ambient, outdoor light is reflected back from your screen, it’s enough to wash out contrast, dull colors, and make the display harder to read.
Fresh Coat has 9x fewer reflections than generic glass screen protectors
Anti-reflective coatings offer:
- Better outdoor visibility. Reflections are reduced before they reach your eyes, so your screens remain readable even under direct sunlight. That allows you to check messages, take photos, and stay connected without searching for shade or tilting the phone to find a better view.
- Truer color and contrast. With less glare bouncing back, on-screen colors appear richer and more accurate. Blacks look deeper, whites look cleaner, and visuals appear more vibrant. This is huge when trying to read anything in harsh lighting conditions, as a lack of contrast can make it difficult to separate text from backgrounds and reflections.
- Reduced eye strain. Dealing with fewer reflections means that you’ll squint less and won’t have to focus as hard when looking at your phone in tough and unfavorable conditions.
- Smudge and scratch protection. AR coatings work hand-in-hand with a durable glass surface to resist fingerprints and protect against daily wear while preserving the clarity of the display.
Together, these benefits make it easier to interact with and manipulate your iPhone when conditions aren’t ideal.
Get even better visuals from your iPhone with Fresh Coat
Over the past few years, all of the testing we conducted around anti-reflectivity went into the making of Fresh Coat, our own anti-reflective glass screen protector for iPhone.
In our research, we found that screen protectors that prioritize durability usually trade off screen clarity, so you’re stuck choosing between strong protection or a screen you can actually see.
With Fresh Coat 2.0, we doubled down on both:
- 9H high alumina glass, 2x stronger than v1 for scratch and drop protection.
- 2x better anti-reflection so your screen stays readable in harsh light. By reflecting half as much light, it’s the clearest, least reflective screen protector we’ve ever made.
- Compatible with polarized lenses
Fresh Coat enhances AR clarity on any iPhone, creating a surface nearly 8x less reflective than the display on an iPhone 16 and 4x less reflective than iPhone 17 and 18’s Ceramic Shield 2.
