Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

AMOLED Displays Are Now Cheaper To Produce Than LCD (androidauthority.com)

Posted by msmash on from the evolution-of-display dept.

An anonymous reader quotes an article on AndroidAuthority: Optics pundits have been crowing about AMOLED destroying LCD for a while now: they are thinner, brighter, more energy efficient and arguably offer better colors, higher contrast, and deeper saturation than LCD. The biggest barrier stopping AMOLED from taking over as the smartphone display technology of choice has been price. Until now that is. As predicted two years ago, it has only taken 24 months for AMOLED production costs to fall below that of LCD. Production costs in the first quarter for a 5-inch Full HD smartphone display are $14.30 for an AMOLED panel and $14.60 for an LCD display. In the fourth quarter of 2015, these figures were $17.10 and $15.70, respectively. [...] With AMOLED production costs dropping below LCD for the first time, AMOLED panels will soon become the default display technology choice for manufacturers on their mid-range and entry-level devices as well.

8 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. To bad the screens burn in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I like to leave my phone plugged in, next to me on my desk, and in developer mode where keeping the screen on is an option. The icons burn into place eventually. I no longer keep the display on all the time and it sucks I can't simply glance at my phone for weather and other info.

    Has this issue been resolved? Granted my phone is 3 years old now.

    1. Re:To bad the screens burn in... by ickleberry · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are supposed to buy a new phone every year, the industry sees you as a problem customer who can be whipped into compliance with shorter-lasting displays and batteries

    2. Re:To bad the screens burn in... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Informative

      From what I understand, the blue OLED ages at a faster rate than the rest of the display, which means that it will appear to turn yellow over time. If you have a static image on the display, then it will age unevenly.

      LCD panels don't age in a way that makes the colors change, so they don't get burn in (the closest thing they get to burn in is image persistence, which is only temporary.)

    3. Re:To bad the screens burn in... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Heh. I was at Best Buy a few days ago and they had this bigTV advertising how awesome it is because it's OLED. It was so awesome that when the demo changed to some moving footage the ghost of the "OLED IS AWESOME!" text was still there.

      Basically they demonstrated not only that those screens burn in but that they do it pretty fast, too! Glad I didn't order this TV through Amazon.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  2. Well that's awesome but... by foxalopex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've always admired OLEDs based screens for their colour accuracy and amazing flatness. With falling costs they would actually make the perfect display. Unfortunately, I am not sure if they resolved the issue of the pixels gradually burning out especially when it comes to blue leaving you with a yellow screen over the long term. It might not matter so much in a phone which typically arn't used more than a few years but that's not something you would want in a TV or monitor.

  3. No thanks by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Do you want an LCD with a decades-old lifespan or AMOLED with burn-in problems within a few months?

    1. Re:No thanks by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      15 years ago it was "look at this LCD shit, built down to a price and dies after a few years, dead pixels everywhere, scaling sucks, I'll stick with my trusty 20 year old 20kg CRT thanks!"

      It's just survivor bias. There has been cheap crap forever, we just think older stuff was more reliable because we have some examples of it surviving for a long time. Cars are the worst, people moan that modern ones are too complex and suck while forgetting that the old ones tended to fall apart as everything rusted away after 5 years.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Re:dat burn-in tho... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    find a video of a travelling red/black bar and play it for an extended time on the screen. This is how you fixed burn in problems on plasma TV's and it should work the same on an OLED.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.