In recent years, smartphones equipped with an OLED screen have gradually become the norm for high-end models. But what’s behind this increasingly popular technology? We will explain everything to you !
Tare many mobile terminals, under iOS or Android, to be equipped with an OLED screen. Most of these smartphones are high-end and are therefore among the most expensive models on the market. However, it is their screen that motivates the additional expense. Why ? The answer to this question is both simple and complex!
Smartphone screen: LCD against OLED … And AMOLED
First of all, it is necessary to oppose the OLED to another technology, older, which could be qualified as ancestor from now on: The LCD .
LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, and so it is a liquid crystal display. These crystals individually allow the light to pass to a greater or lesser extent and thus constitute the image.
This type of screen does not contain lighting at the base, which means that builders must add one underneath for the image to be visible. This has different consequences on the rendering, especially in contrasts. Black isn’t totally black on an LCD screen because there’s always some light from the backlight that passes through the liquid crystals, despite the constant efforts of smartphone manufacturers. In addition, the black will be all the less black the closer a bright point of light is, because it is not possible to simply turn off part of the screen.
OLED , on the other hand, works very differently. We must already establish a truth: when we speak today of an OLED smartphone screen, we are actually talking about AMOLED technology , which stands for Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode . It is the combination of an active matrix and OLED technology .
The major difference between AMOLED and LCD is that the organic light-emitting diodes of OLED technology emit their own light and therefore do not need a backlight . Contrasts are more natural and black is black . One of the other particularities of AMOLED is that the diodes operate independently of each other without noticeable latency, with more fluidity as a result. It is also possible to completely switch off diodes in black areas, for example.
OLED, an energy-saving technology
At this stage, we will have understood one of the first advantages of OLED/AMOLED: the contrasts are more marked , the black is black and the colors are more shimmering . There is therefore an obvious aesthetic interest in favoring OLED, in particular if you like to admire photos on your smartphone, or if you use your terminal to watch videos on YouTube , Netflix , or any other online service.
With OLED, the mobile phone really becomes a miniature television : this technology is also very popular with TV manufacturers now.
But OLED has another advantage : it is more energy efficient. The reason for this is explained above: an OLED screen can turn off some of its diodes when there is no need to use them, where the LCD makes the backlight work all the time. Inevitably, the LCD consumes more energy, while the OLED spares the battery of the smartphone at the slightest opportunity.
It may seem paradoxical, but an OLED smartphone screen, although it presents a brighter image and better contrast, is also less power-hungry… surprising, isn’t it?
Additional ease of use
AMOLED’s third advantage: increased comfort of use for the mobile user. Brightness and viewing angles are optimized with an OLED screen, making it easier to enjoy content streamed on your smartphone.
Since OLED is thinner and more flexible than LCD, it is also better suited to the various experiments by manufacturers. Samsung and Huawei , for example, offer smartphones with OLED screens with slightly curved edges, which allow smartphone notifications to be read from the side, not necessarily turning on the entire screen if there is no no need to do so. This further optimizes the user experience.
As for foldable screens , if their arrival on the consumer market at affordable prices is clearly not yet relevant, it is indeed thanks to OLED that this will be possible in the years to come.
While waiting to see what the future holds for OLED/AMOLED, you now know why you shouldn’t neglect the screen when choosing your new smartphone. Admittedly, models equipped with an OLED screen are often more expensive, but the advantages are significant , both in terms of comfort of use and autonomy . . Sometimes it’s really worth spending more.