• IPS or AMOLED - which is better? Let's look into it in detail. LCD vs AMOLED. Which is better

    In this article we will find details about the structure of AMOLED screens, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the differences between technologies Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus.

    AMOLED panels have become the new standard in the world of screen technology. Increasingly, such displays are used in flagship smartphones, other mobile devices, monitors and even TVs.

    The technology was first used in a mobile Samsung phone S8300 Ultra Touch in 2009, but now it is being used by other manufacturers. Yes, last year Chinese brand OnePlus introduced its own Optic AMOLED development in the flagships OnePlus 3 and .

    What is an AMOLED panel?

    The abbreviation AMOLED stands for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes. The peculiarity of this type of display is that each pixel is illuminated by a separate diode, so no additional backlight or liquid crystals are required.

    The cathode layer comes first. Organic light-emitting diodes act as light-emitting elements, and an active matrix of thin-film transistors is used to control them. They determine the current that passes through each diode, hence the brightness and color of the pixel. Then the anode layer passes through. Next is the substrate, which can be made of various materials, such as silicone, metal, etc.

    In AMOLED panels, subpixels are placed using the PenTile scheme developed by Candice Brown Elliott. Each pixel contains five subpixels, which are staggered by color: two red, two green and one blue in the center. This arrangement provides high display brightness without increasing power consumption. In 2008, the rights to the technology were transferred to Samsung Electronics, and it began using it in its products.

    Super AMOLED

    In 2010, Samsung introduced an improved version of the panel, called Super AMOLED. Its main difference was the absence of an air gap between the sensor and the screen itself. This made it possible to increase the brightness and clarity of the image, improve readability in bright sunlight and reduce the thickness of the display.

    At the beginning of 2011, another improved version was released - Super AMOLED Plus. Unlike its predecessor, it uses color RGB model instead of PenTile, which provides increased picture clarity.

    Advantages of AMOLED displays

    One of the main advantages of AMOLED is that the power consumption of the display directly depends on the brightness of the image. Thus, the screen requires less power to display dark tones. This results in deeper blacks because black pixels are not backlit at all. Samsung has used the same advantage in its Always On Display technology, which allows you to display the time, date and notifications on the lock screen without noticeable battery consumption.

    These displays provide more wide angle review (about 180 degrees) both vertically and horizontally. At the same time, brightness, contrast and color saturation are maintained.

    AMOLED panels are thinner, allowing the device to fit into a slimmer, sleeker design. Also, the space freed up inside the case can be used for other important components, for example, a more capacious battery.

    In addition, AMOLED screens have a wider color gamut, faster response time and high contrast.

    Disadvantages of AMOLED

    As mentioned earlier, in AMOLED panels, power consumption directly depends on the brightness of the picture. This means that displaying light colors will require more power.

    One more weak side is the unreliability of connections inside the screen. Even the slightest damage or crack can cause the display to fail completely. With a slight depressurization, the screen begins to gradually fade and stops showing after about two days.

    With constant use in bright colors, the service life of such a panel is noticeably reduced. Moreover, subpixels different colors burn out with at different speeds, as a result of which color rendition is disrupted. In addition, the maximum brightness of AMOLED displays remains lower compared to LCD.

    For a long time, one of the disadvantages was the high cost of production, which means that repairs, if necessary, were more expensive for users. However, with the development of technology, the production of AMOLED panels is becoming cheaper.

    Conclusion

    The advantages and disadvantages of AMOLED panels are constantly debated. But it cannot be denied that such displays are the technology of the future, because more and more mobile manufacturers are beginning to switch to the new standard, invest in its development, or even produce their own versions of OLED screens.

    If you are lucky enough to own a smartphone or other mobile device with an AMOLED display, we can advise you to stick to a dark design for the main screen and interface. This will reduce the energy consumed by the screen and extend the life of the display. Be careful when doing this and remember that even with minor damage the screen can fail completely.

    AMOLED– active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes ( Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode). The essence of the technology comes down to the use of organic LEDs as a source for constructing a picture on the surface of the active matrix, and TFT thin-film transistors that control these LEDs.To simplify it as much as possible, then AMOLED technology is a layer cake, the bottom layer of which is an active matrix, followed by a layer of organic LEDs and a layer of control transistors. It is interesting that for each LED there is a personal transistor, which, by changing the electrical potential, causes the LED to change color scheme and saturation. This operating principle allows you to achieve high image clarity and contrast.

    Advantages of AMOLED displays over LCD displays

    • Relative energy saving, energy consumption depends on the brightness of the picture; the darker the picture, the less energy the AMOLED display consumes.
    • Wider color gamut (32%) than Super IPS LCD display.
    • The matrix response rate is 0.01 ms. For comparison, a matrix made using TN technology has a response rate of 2 ms.
    • The viewing angles horizontally and vertically are 180 degrees, with full preservation of brightness, clarity and contrast.
    • Thinner display
    • Maximum contrast level.

    Advantages of AMOLED displays over plasma panels

    • Compact size
    • Low power consumption
    • High brightness

    Disadvantages of AMOLED Displays over LCD Displays

    • OLED lifespan decreases with frequent viewing bright pictures, due to the fragility of one of the phosphors, in particular blue. It is worth noting that developers are constantly looking for new sources of this product, and already now blue phosphor is able to work up to 17,000 hours without loss of signal quality.
    • The high cost of producing AMOLED displays.
    • Inverse relationship between time and brightness indicators. The average service life of such displays is 7-8 years.

    Disadvantages of AMOLED Displays over Plasma Displays

    • AMOLED technology does not allow you to create large displays for reasonable money.
    • Color imbalance, due to the fact that each LED has its own brightness, it is necessary to create matrices with an uneven arrangement of subpixel LEDs to achieve color balance.
    • Sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation.
    • Unreliability of connections inside the screen (the slightest break or crack is enough and the screen does not show completely).
    • The slightest depressurization between the layers of the display is enough - and the display begins to fade from this point. (one or two days are enough for the display to stop showing completely).

    Comparison of AMOLED and Super AMOLED technology

    Super AMOLED (Super Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) – improved technology for the production of touchscreens based on AMOLED technology. Unlike its predecessors, the touch layer is glued to the screen itself, which allows you to get rid of the layer of air in between. This increases clarity, readability in sunlight, color saturation, and allows for a smaller display thickness.

    • - 20% brighter than its predecessor
    • - 80% less reflective of sunlight
    • - energy consumption reduced by 20%
    • - dust cannot get into the gap between the screen and the touchscreen

    Super AMOLED display design

    The top layer is the touchscreen. It is glued to the second layer - a transparent protective layer, on which the wiring is also located (Wire network for transmitting current low voltage). The wiring goes to the layer with LEDs - they form the image. Below the LEDs is a layer of thin film transistors (TFTs). Underneath them is a substrate, which can be made of a variety of materials, including flexible ones.

    Video showing the difference in picture quality of displays made using various technologies, including AMOLED and Super AMOLED.

    A fairly established product on the IT technology market are flagships with amoled monitors.

    Why is he interesting? to an ordinary person and is it worth spending your attention on it?

    AMOLED display

    Amoled technology is the brainchild of the world famous company Samsung. The invention has won the love of consumers, thanks to which the manufacturer is constantly trying to improve it.

    First, let's figure it out amoled display, What is this? This is an abbreviation capital letters, which in decoding look like this: Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode.

    A technique that allows you to create monitors for televisions, mobile phones and computers.

    Its basis is the use of organic light-emitting diodes as parts that emit light, and an active matrix, which consists of thin-film transistors.

    An interesting technology is the way to create black.

    When it is necessary to generate it, the LEDs simply stop working, and this makes it possible to produce truly rich, deep black color. When it is present on the monitor, there is a decrease in energy consumption by the phone.

    On the screen, all the pictures look much more attractive. Color rendition is bright and rich. Therefore, models hold the lead in the market along with IPS.

    Phones with AMOLED display

    Phones with amoled displays do not lose their relevance enough for a long time. They have gained their trust and now even practice installation in a budget model.

    Users of such gadgets are satisfied with the color scheme provided by the developers and with the devices themselves as a whole.

    To popular models with this screen include:

    Pros of AMOLED

    Of course, phones with such a display are very high-status. Among their advantages is the width of the screen, in which the corners are not bent and the picture is shown in full. Also, excellent contrast.

    Monitor matrices are presented in very rich color. Black looks ideal.

    When you look at such a display, you get the feeling that the picture is not in it, but on the surface. According to consumer reviews, this increases the pleasure of using the gadget.

    Disadvantages of AMOLED

    Today, the quality of screens made using Amoled technology has improved so much that consumers simply do not find any negative aspects of the product.

    One bad trend is still visible. The most negative thing is that health problems appear.

    Even when viewing multimedia files for a short time, the eyes begin to tire, and over time, vision deteriorates. Eye strain causes loss of sharpness of vision.

    The color pictures on the screen are very bright. Not every person can adapt to such eyeball tension. At first, I like the brightness, but it has a detrimental effect on vision.

    There was no way for science to confirm such data. After all, you need to gather a certain number of people, conduct research and draw conclusions based on statistical data. We present information that only some users shared on the Internet.

    Many of them wrote that after buying a phone with such a display, their eyes began to get very tired, and they had to buy special drops. Or 100% vision for short time has deteriorated greatly.

    Among the disadvantages of this technology, we can also highlight:

    1 You need to be very careful with your phone display. If you damage it somewhere and even the slightest air gets inside, the screen will instantly begin to fade. Within one or two days yours mobile device will become unusable due to the fact that the monitor will stop displaying altogether. From the point where depressurization occurred, a black spot will appear and for a long time will grow over the entire surface.

    1 The connections located under the screen are extremely unreliable. If there is the slightest mechanical damage, such as a crack, the monitor becomes unusable. He doesn't show.

    Smartphones with AMOLED display

    Smartphones with amoled displays have been present on the IT technology market for a long time. They are famous a large number users and managed to gain recognition for the brightness of their color reproduction.

    Many manufacturers are increasingly turning to this method when creating smartphones.

    So, phones Meizu Pro 6, Yota YotaPhone 2, Huawei Nexus 6P, Highscreen Bay, Lumia use Amoled screens in their models.

    In models Microsoft Lumia 950 Dual SIM A display created using this development method is used, with a diagonal of 5.2 inches. Customer reviews are the most positive.

    Photos and videos can be viewed freely even in the strongest sunlight.

    Highscreen Bay is known for the fact that, thanks to this screen manufacturing technology, it can convey even the smallest details in the image. This is due to excellent quality AMOLED matrices.

    Telephone Meizu Pro 6 is also equipped with a Super AMOLED matrix. His pictures are bright and clear.

    The Yota YotaPhone 2 model is equipped with a 5-inch screen and an AMOLED matrix.

    Super AMOLED

    The technology appeared in 2010. It is much better than its predecessor.

    The benefits are noticeable:

    • Even more brightness. The color scheme has become twenty percent more saturated.
    • The viewing angle has changed. It turns 180 degrees and the advantage is that the image remains clear and high-quality, not only for the person looking at the screen located directly in front of him, but also for everyone else, at any distance.
    • Energy consumption has decreased by twenty percent.

    Energy reserve – constant problem for smartphones. It’s good if the phone charge lasts until the evening, or even less. So here's a new technique slightly increased the operating time of the device.

    • The phone is now more durable. New models are manufactured without a built-in air cushion. This makes it possible to make devices much stronger, and accordingly their service life increases.

      • For example, when there is a lot of white color on the screen of a phone with the display in question, the energy consumed is twice as much. This doesn't happen in IPS phones..

      When working with a black screen, the energy consumption indicators are approximately the same. At normal mode operation of the device, IPS also predominates in the energy charge.

      For some it is more convenient, but when using a phone that has a built-in amoled display, the brightness goes through the roof. It's a little disturbing.

      And with prolonged use, the eyes hurt and dry out. In IPS, with a more gentle color gamut, there are no such problems.

      However, if you examine the phone's response speed to your manipulations, IPS phones respond much slower.

      Its positive side is that the screen conveys more natural colors. But when photographing on the sunny side, the device clearly lacks brightness.

    It’s easy to notice that phones with AMOLED screens are more expensive than their IPS counterparts. What is the reason for the higher cost? Is it possible to immediately distinguish a display created using AMOLED technology from other types of screens? Why are such LCD panels rarely found outside of the products of the South Korean company Samsung? The answers to all these questions are in this material.

    Under the abbreviation AMOLED lies the decoding of “Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode”. This means that this matrix is ​​built on the basis of organic light-emitting diodes, while it is active. Each pixel here lights up independently, as a result of which a separate backlit layer is not required - this reduces the thickness of the panel and also reduces power consumption.

    Almost any AMOLED screen has the following structure:

    • Top layer - cathode;
    • Below is organic layer with LEDs- there is no air gap;
    • Posted even lower matrix of thin film transistors those involved in diode control;
    • What follows anode layer;
    • It all lies on a substrate made of silicone, metal or some other material.

    Structure of an AMOLED screen

    The order of LED subpixels in AMOLED displays can be different. Samsung long I used PenTile for a while - a checkerboard pattern (blue in the middle, two green on the sides, two red behind them). It is this position of the subpixels that has the most positive effect on power consumption.

    PenTile - subpixel order used by Samsung

    AMOLED or Super AMOLED: which is better?

    IN Samsung smartphones Screens made using Super AMOLED technology are used. What are the main differences between such displays? Initially, the prefix “Super” meant the absence of an air gap - it was the South Korean company that managed to get rid of it in 2010. But now ordinary AMOLED screens manufactured by other companies can boast of this. Consequently, Super AMOLED is now a marketing feature of the South Korean manufacturer. That is, you can put an “equal” sign between AMOLED and Super AMOLED.

    It should be noted that Samsung produces the largest number of AMOLED panels. South Koreans have already learned how to bend their creations in every possible way (doing this without a separate backlit layer is much easier). Rest assured, all smartphones with an AMOLED display, the edges of which are curved, are manufactured using South Korean matrices. Apple is going to open its own plant for the production of organic LED screens, but this will not happen earlier than 2020.

    Main advantages of AMOLED panels

    The physical properties of matrices consisting of organic light-emitting diodes are such that the screen can have tiny thickness. In particular, this is especially important for smart watch and fitness bracelets, the physical dimensions of which should not be large.

    But the most important advantage of any OLED screen (including its AMOLED variations) is low power consumption. Each pixel of such a display glows independently. It turns out that highest consumption energy will be at the moment when the entire screen displays smooth white. And if some areas should display dark colors, they glow noticeably dimmer, which reduces battery consumption.

    The darker the picture displayed on the display, the less energy is consumed.

    High Contrast- another undoubted advantage similar screens. This is explained by the same ability of pixels to glow on their own. For example, under the IPS panel there is a substrate of LEDs that illuminate black colors as well. This doesn't happen here.

    Differences in contrast are immediately noticeable

    It is also due to this that the picture on the AMOLED screen clearly visible even under bright conditions sunlight . IPS technology allows you to see something on the display on a clear day only by turning down the backlight brightness, which leads to a sharp increase in power consumption.

    Phones with AMOLED display

    As mentioned above, only Samsung is familiar with organic LEDs. But that doesn't mean that this manufacturer does not sell its screens to anyone else. In particular, a 6-inch AMOLED panel is included in the popular smartphone OnePlus 5T. The resolution of this screen is 2160 x 1080 pixels, and the width of the side frames is kept to a minimum.

    The screen, created on the basis of organic light-emitting diodes, has Meizu Pro 7. This device is much more compact - the diagonal of the display installed here is only 5.2 inches, and the resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. A distinctive feature of the device is the presence of a second screen located on the rear panel, directly below the dual camera. AMOLED technology was also used in its creation.

    As for South Korean smartphones, there is no point in highlighting specific models. For quite some time now, even relatively inexpensive devices produced by Samsung have had an AMOLED display. The only exceptions are ultra-budget models, sold for 4000-5000 rubles.

    Conclusion

    AMOLED screens are the future, that's for sure. These displays do not have serious shortcomings, producing images with better color rendition and maximum viewing angles, while consuming very little power. The only problem is the higher cost of such panels. This results in a percentage of yield of suitable products that is far from a record. We can also mention that production rates are not the highest - alas, it is extremely difficult for Samsung alone to satisfy the demands of the smartphone market.

    In this article I will not go into technical details. creation of IPS and AMOLED matrices, they are in in this case not so interesting. What is more important is what the average consumer gets when choosing this or that matrix. Therefore, in this material I will talk about the practical advantages and disadvantages of these two types of matrices.

    Benefits of IPS

    IPS matrices are an evolutionary development of TFT displays, but with a number of specific advantages. Firstly, they have much better color reproduction; the picture on IPS is much brighter and richer. Secondly, they have much higher viewing angles; when deviated, the picture does not fade. General level The brightness of IPS matrices is also superior to conventional TN displays. Last advantage- natural white color, which is quite problematic to achieve on AMOLED.

    Advantages of AMOLED

    AMOLED matrices are produced by Samsung and were initially used only by it, but later other manufacturers also gained access to such displays.


    The first advantage of AMOLED matrices is the natural black color; on both IPS and TN matrices, the black color is more like gray, especially at maximum brightness. In the case of AMOLED, you get perfect blacks, and an additional bonus there will be reduced power consumption when displaying it.

    The second plus is the high contrast of the picture. Many users love AMOLED displays for their bright and rich colors. Any picture looks very cool on such screens.

    Third advantage - high level maximum brightness. In a direct comparison, on a bright sunny day, the AMOLED matrix will outperform IPS.

    The fourth advantage is low power consumption. Smartphones equipped with IPS screens will discharge with an active screen much faster than their counterparts with AMOLED

    Disadvantages of IPS

    Perhaps the only drawback of IPS matrices is their imperfect display of black colors. Otherwise it's great displays with natural color rendition, maximum viewing angles and good level brightness.

    Disadvantages of AMOLED

    AMOLED displays have a special pixel structure that uses more green subpixels, this solution has one significant drawback called PenTile. When reading small text, you may notice red halos around the letters, which some people find annoying.


    The second drawback is PWM ( pulse width modulation). Its essence is that individual pixels turn on/off at a very high speed, visually indistinguishable by the human eye. This is done to reduce power consumption, but in fact the eyes get tired of such displays faster. Because of this, such displays on the camera may flicker.

    Conclusion

    And yet, despite the disadvantages listed above, it is AMOLED displays that are installed in the majority of flagships large companies. The thing is that, all other things being equal, they show a brighter and juicier picture, as well as better behavior in the sun.


    IPS matrices are also good displays, so Meizu installs them in most mid-segment smartphones, and leaves AMOLED for flagships.

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