Example smart panel display apparatus and related methods are disclosed herein. An example apparatus to control a display of an electronic device includes a user presence detector to determine a presence of a user relative to the device based on image data generated by an image sensor of the device. The example apparatus includes a gaze detector to determine a direction of a gaze of the user relative to the image sensor based on the image data. The example apparatus includes a backlight manager to selectively adjust a display brightness based on the presence of the user and the direction of the gaze of the user.