An OLED display doesn’t need any of the electronics and circuitry used to drive the LED back light and LCD shutter from a LED display, which makes OLEDs more efficient. LED screens produce black simply by fully closing the pixel shutter—the back light is still shining (it never actually turns off) but the light itself is being blocked. An OLED instead turns the pixel off entirely to produce the color black, saving energy in the process.
Apple iPhone 8 OLED Display
And thinking about it, I have to wonder: Is Apple making such an enormous and potentially unpopular change this year so that next year’s iPhone — you know, the one that might have an all-glass display and an ultra-sharp AMOLED screen — won’t suffer? That’s the phone that might ditch the home button altogether. It’s also the phone that will coincidentally be released the same year as the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone.
OLED, or Organic Light Emitting Diodes, are an offshoot of existing conventional LED technology. LEDs are semiconducting light sources that function through electroluminescence—that is, they produce photons (aka light) by plopping electrons into little electron holes within the device’s emissive layer.
Apple iPhone 8 OLED Display Benefits
- OLEDs produce deeper blacks and have a wider gamut array, and because they’re not backlit they possess higher contrast ratios. In addition to this, refresh rates are WAY faster than what you’ll come across on LCD/LED setups. Viewing angles are also better, meaning you can pretty much see exactly what’s happening on the screen even when standing at 90 degrees.
- OLEDs do not require backlighting like LCDs (see How LCDs Work). LCDs work by selectively blocking areas of the backlight to make the images that you see, while OLEDs generate light themselves. Because OLEDs do not require backlighting, they consume much less power than LCDs (most of the LCD power goes to the backlighting). This is especially important for battery-operated devices such as cell phones.
- OLEDs are easier to produce and can be made to larger sizes. Because OLEDs are essentially plastics, they can be made into large, thin sheets. It is much more difficult to grow and lay down so many liquid crystals.
- OLEDs have large fields of view, about 170 degrees. Because LCDs work by blocking light, they have an inherent viewing obstacle from certain angles. OLEDs produce their own light, so they have a much wider viewing range.
- OLED screens have near perfect viewing angle. OLEDs create light (are emissive) rather than block light. Every pixel is lit independently and that light will be seen from off axis viewing angles easily and accurately, also like plasma TV technology.
- OLED have one solid layer of plexiglass-like material which is extremely thin and light and contains all of the color compounds and TFT material needed. Therefore, the OLED panel is flexible (as in non-breakable) as well.
- OLED televisions utilize slight electric currents to excite a combination of organic phosphorescence encased in a plastic substrate. OLED needs very little power to operate so in theory should last for a very long time as the parts are not taxed significantly. One weakness here is the blue organic LED compound which may die before the red and green compounds.
- OLED TV will be the most energy efficient TV technology ever produced. It takes hardly any power to energize the organic light emitting molecules located in the emissive layer of the substrate.