What Are OLED Displays? What’s So Great About Them? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About OLED Technology

Something we seem to be hearing a lot about lately is this gloriously hyped up “OLED” display technology and how the advanced display tech is all but certain to debut on at least one of Apple’s higher-end iPhone offerings this fall. Of course, while OLED technology is not a new concept, in and of itself, it’s debut on the iPhone will nonetheless usher in one of the most groundbreaking evolutions in the history of the handset.

But what is OLED? And, perhaps more important, what are the benefits of it over other display technologies, such as IPS-LCD? With rumors swirling that Apple will be releasing a premium iPhone featuring a curved OLED display this year, we thought it would be a great time to talk about the technology — what it is, what’s so great about it, and what will an OLED display means for you.

The Basics of OLED Technology

First and foremost, OLED, pronounced by those in-the-know as “oh-led”, is an acronym for Organic Light Emitting-Diode. It is a display technology that, unlike traditional LCD panels (which rely on physical backlights to illuminate the images presented onscreen), relies on underlying electromagnetic currents that stimulate the many pixels — thereby foregoing the need for those bright, white light bulbs. The result? Not only do you get a more power-efficient display — since electrical currents require much less power than those brightly-lit light bulbs, but you also get a display that’s capable of producing more chromatically dynamic, true-to-life colors, expressing vivid detail, with deeper, darker blacks, and more natural Red, Green, Blue (RGB) reproduction.

Benefits of OLED Displays

As we previously explained, OLED display technology has several key advantages over LCD — including, but not limited to, sharper contrast ratios, faster refresh rates, and a technology that can even be implemented into larger displays — as evidenced by Samsung, with its 5.7-inch AMOLED panel that was recently employed on the doomed Galaxy Note 7 flagship. Samsung has actually been making high-end AMOLED — Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting-Diode — displays for years now; however, only within the last year or so has the technology become so mainstream that Apple decided to hop aboard the bandwagon.

Will the iPhone 8 have an OLED display?

The Silicon Valley tech-giant is actually rumored to have tapped Samsung to supply it with the bulk of Cupertino’s 2017 OLED display orders — which, as far as we know, will be among the most notable features coming to Apple’s top-tier ‘iPhone 8’.

Of course, Apple releasing an OLED-equipped iPhone this year could ultimately be a precursor to other, future products — such as iPads, MacBooks, or even iMacs — featuring OLED display panels, as well. Bottom line is, LCD technology is going the way of the 3.5mm headphone jack — it’s aging. OLED will offer an overall more immersive and enjoyable viewing experience on your mobile device.