Difference Between LCD Screens and OLED Screens (and Why It Matters to Your IPhone)
How often do you think about your iPhone’s display? Unless you are a tech nerd (like me) or live with a broken display (like I have in the past), you may never think about it. Otherwise it looks pretty – what else do you need to know? But you don’t need to be a computer geek to take care of your iPhone’s display. In fact, you might be missing out on some great features if you don’t know which ones you have.
What is LCD Display?
Let’s start with the basics. There are two main types of iPhone displays. The first is LCD, which stands for Liquid Crystal Display. To simplify the explanation (and this is a significant oversimplification), let’s look at the two components that make LCDs work. The first is their pixels, which determine the colors displayed on the screen. Each pixel is made up of three sub-pixels — red, green, and blue — each of which varies in intensity. This color combination creates images that appear when scrolling on Instagram, watching YouTube videos, or looking at your photos.
The second component of LCDs is the backlight. A backlight is a panel that sits behind pixels and lets light through them so you can see what you see. When you change the brightness of the display, you are actually controlling the backlight and it covers the entire display; think of it as a light bulb – you cannot decide that one part of the light bulb will get brighter and the other will dim.
What is OLED Display?
Another type of iPhone display is OLED, short for organic light-emitting diode. The main difference between LCDs and OLEDs is that there is no backlight on the OLED panel. Instead, the pixels ignite themselves. This gives you significant benefits; first, you can have more detailed images, since each pixel stands out on its own, instead of requiring a highlight that also covers all surrounding pixels. The biggest benefit people talk about the most is that OLED pixels can be turned off, providing incredible contrast between light and dark images.
If you want a good idea of ​​how each display type works, iFixit has a fantastic breakdown:
Benefits of OLED on iPhone
Here’s an example of why this is great: Let’s say you’re watching a movie on your phone. Whenever there are dark scenes in this movie, those areas of the display are literally turned off. The night sky turns completely black; if the movie is widescreen or square with a 4: 3 aspect ratio, the bands at the top and bottom or left and right suddenly become completely dark. The result is a very beautiful image, especially if you are looking in a dimly lit room.
This is why I especially love OLED TVs. The image is fantastic, and when viewed in a completely dark room, the letterbox stripes simply disappear; you only see the part of the screen that you want (be it ultra-widescreen or old square).
When it comes to the iPhone, if you compare an iPhone with an LCD display and an iPhone with an OLED display and fill each display with a black rectangle, it visualizes the difference beautifully. An iPhone with an OLED display would look like it was turned off; The iPhone LCD will still be dark, but the display will glow.
Since OLED pixels can turn off on their own, this seriously affects battery life. You can save your iPhone by simply using Dark Mode, especially Dark Mode which uses a black background. (Grays won’t turn off pixels, so you really need all-black cells to keep your iPhone’s battery from having to power every pixel.)
What are the disadvantages of OLED?
Traditionally, the main disadvantage of OLED displays is burn-in. Unfortunately, you see this a lot on OLED TVs; after prolonged use, sometimes the “shadow” of static images always remains on your screen. For example, people who watch a lot of news complain that they see the outline of the chronometer, the news feed, and the POS logo on the TV all the time.
However, Apple has done a good job of keeping OLED iPhones from burning out, and that’s not a common complaint about these devices. The first iPhone with an OLED display – the X – has been released since 2017, and in those four years, afterimages have not been a noticeable issue. That is, you don’t have to go out of your way to opt for an iPhone with an LCD screen if you’re afraid of burn-in.
What display does your iPhone have?
Below, I’ve listed every iPhone Apple has ever made, along with the display type. Some of these iPhones are quite old, but I would like to know if you still download them. I must point out that there are no new LCD iPhones; The last one Apple released was the 2020 iPhone SE, and before that the iPhone 11. All iPhone 12 and 13 lines are built with OLED displays.
iPhone LCD
iPhone (2007), iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone SE (1st Gen), iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus , iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone SE (2nd generation).
iPhone with OLED
iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max …