I've been coding for over 20 years now! (WOAH, do I feel old)
I've touched just about every resource imaginable under the Sun (too bad they were bought out by Oracle)
So, a couple things here. Firstly, obviously, this is only true for OLEDs, and not LCDs (which are significantly more common)... but another thing: flat white actually isn't the most energy intense "color" on all OLED panels. This was a bit of a shock to me, too, recently. On my LG C9 panel, a flat white (or very close to it) image will actually go into a reduced power mode. However, colors like bright yellow will not go into that reduced power mode, and use significantly more power. So it really comes down to OLED panel image processing optimizations as well. If you spend a lot of time trying to game the system, but the system isn't static, it will be more of a perceived efficiency rather than actual efficiency.
So, a couple things here. Firstly, obviously, this is only true for OLEDs, and not LCDs (which are significantly more common)... but another thing: flat white actually isn't the most energy intense "color" on all OLED panels. This was a bit of a shock to me, too, recently. On my LG C9 panel, a flat white (or very close to it) image will actually go into a reduced power mode. However, colors like bright yellow will not go into that reduced power mode, and use significantly more power. So it really comes down to OLED panel image processing optimizations as well. If you spend a lot of time trying to game the system, but the system isn't static, it will be more of a perceived efficiency rather than actual efficiency.
Interesting, thanks for sharing (Btw: I have the earlier B9!)