OLED: The Future Of Screen Tech

When Apple first publicly showed off the iPhone X at a keynote last September, executive Phil Schiller hailed the new handset as “all-screen” and “beautiful to look at”, adding descriptively that “the display fits edge-to-edge, top-to-bottom”.

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

When Apple first publicly showed off the iPhone X at a keynote last September, executive Phil Schiller hailed the new handset as “all-screen” and “beautiful to look at”, adding descriptively that “the display fits edge-to-edge, top-to-bottom”. He branded this display “the Super Retina display”, reflecting its improvements upon the Retina displays long featured in Apple devices. In all, he hailed the screen as “the first OLED display great enough to be in an iPhone.”

GREATEST NITS: WHAT MAKES THE PHONE X’S SCREEN SPECIAL

Many people who have habitually bought a new smartphone year-after-year for the last decade might wonder why it took so long for Apple to finally integrate OLED technology into its iPhone screens. After all, OLED technology has been included in Samsung phones since 2008. However, it seems in-keeping with Apple’s “best, not first” philosophy that, on many measures, the iPhone X’s screen actually betters OLED displays of competing high-end handsets, according to Tom’s Guide.

The iPhone X’s pixel density comes in at 458 ppi - translating into a better-resolution pixel density than any other in an iPhone. However, it is once this display is compared closely to those of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL that its strengths really come to the fore. Tom’s Guide tested the display brightness of each device through, on each one, lifting the brightness to the highest possible manual setting and then loading up a wholly white screen in a web browser. The iPhone X’s brightness hit 574 nits, leaving the Pixel 2 XL trailing on 438 nits and Note 8 on 408 nits.