Supporters of technologies used inmanufacturing displays of mobile devices, divided into AMOLED lovers and supporters of LCD. Both types of screens are based on different manufacturing techniques, and manufacturers emphasize the advantages of their own technological process.
So which screen is better - IPS or AMOLED? Is there a noticeable difference between these technologies, and if so, what is it?
LCD означает ЖК-дисплей.The colors in it are reproduced completely differently than in AMOLED. In the liquid crystal display, the light source is the backlight. The backlight can be multiple, which saves energy, but it is used in large TVs.
Белый цвет не имеет собственной длины волны.It is a mixture of all other visible colors of the spectrum. Thus, the LCD backlight should create imaginary white light as efficiently as possible in order to obtain from it different colors in the LCD element. Most LCD displays have a blue LED backlight that hits phosphorus and generates near-white light.
The real difficulties begin when the lightpolarized and passes through the crystal. The LCD element can rotate it at a different angle by changing the voltage applied to it. Then the light passes through another polarization filter, shifted by 90 ° with respect to the first. This dampens it depending on the angle of rotation. The light then passes through the RGB filter, creating subpixels, then grouped into pixels.
All this suggests that the LCD displaycontrols the amount of light by blocking the backlight, and does not generate colored light for each pixel. Like AMOLED, LCD displays can be active and passive matrix devices.
Hidden in the name of the key component of the screensThis type - LED (LED). Fans of electronics knew about these lights before, but in the display panel they were drastically reduced and placed in the form of red, green and blue clusters, which make up a single pixel that can reproduce white and other colors. The layout of these subpixels may slightly affect the performance of the displays.
The letter O means organic. There are a number of thin organic films placed between the conductors of the LED that emit light when current is applied.
And finally, the AM part in AMOLED stands for"Active matrix", in contrast to the passive technology. This indicates how each OLED LED is controlled. To control a single pixel in the passive matrix, integrated circuits are used that control the supply of voltage to the required column or row. It is slow and not accurate enough. The active matrix systems in each LED use a TFT transistor and a capacitor. When a row and a column are activated to access a pixel, its capacitor saves charge between refresh cycles. This allows you to quickly and accurately manage it.
Another term that can be met isSuper AMOLED, Samsung's marketing name for display combined with capacitive touchscreen. Usually such a screen is executed as a separate layer on the outer part of the display. Such a combination makes the display thinner.
Such a profound difference in the way displays workIt has a great influence on the user experience. The color scheme is most often mentioned when comparing these technologies. AMOLED provides a wider range of color options than LCD, resulting in brighter images.
OLED displays feature additionalsaturation of green and blue, the most powerful colors in subpixels. Some believe that this extra saturation produces unnatural colors. LCD displays tend to overcompensate red tones with more subdued green. Despite the fact that they do not have a wide enough gamut, the image they create fits very closely with the standard color profile used in photos and videos.
A closer look at smartphone displaysshows that the color gamut can vary quite significantly even in displays of the same type. For example, despite the fact that the BlackBerry Priv and Galaxy Note 5 uses the AMOLED display from the same manufacturer, they have completely different gamma profiles. This can be partially explained by the presence of several profiles and different image calibration by the manufacturer.
Color accuracy is another significantthe difference, especially when it comes to white color. Testing some of the best Android smartphones showed that OLED displays give very accurate results, while LCD displays have a slight blue tint. This is not surprising, given that the LCDs work on filtered blue backlighting.
Lack of backlighting and filtering layers alsospeaks in favor of OLED. LCD displays often let in extra light and have low contrast, as the backlight does not turn off, even if the pixels should be black, while OLED can simply turn off its pixels. The LCD filter layer also blocks part of the world, and a large thickness means that the viewing angles are smaller compared to OLED.
The disadvantage of AMOLED is that differentLEDs have different lifetimes, which means that the individual components of the RBG eventually degrade at different speeds. The color balance of the OLED display may slightly shift over time, and the LCD backlight means that the color balance is more stable.
One of the main advantages of OLED screensis their high manageability at the level of each pixel. This element can be turned off, allowing you to achieve black depth and high contrast ratio. The control of radiation at the level of an individual pixel results in energy savings, and the absence of additional layers above the LEDs means that the surface reaches a maximum of light. Images become brighter and improves viewing angle.
AMOLED fans point out thinnerscreen, which depends on the size of the device and its weight. This is due to the lack of illumination. Although for many this parameter may seem insignificant, it affects another important indicator - the viewing angle, which directly depends on the thickness of the display.
The use of LEDs means that the LED-screensextremely thin, which is ideal for portable devices. The absence of hard lighting and a breakthrough in the production of substrates made it possible to create the first generation of flexible displays that are very promising for creating new form factors.
One of the main parameters that will helpTo figure out which screen technology is better - IPS or AMOLED, is the contrast. The advantage of LED technology is a huge contrast, for which users love this technology. When a person sees such a colorful display for the first time, he is very surprised. This is the “wow effect” so revered by marketers.
Следующий параметр, который поможет определиться, which screen is better - IPS or Super AMOLED, is the ability to transmit black. Due to the fact that LED screens glow independently, users give them an indisputable advantage. Only the pixels needed in the image are involved, and not the entire screen, as in IPS. Contrast - the ratio of the brightness of the brightest and darkest parts of the screen, so the theoretical contrast of organic LEDs is infinite, since there is no glow. But in reality the situation is different, the reflected light passes through the black areas. The difference in contrast is 20 times (30,000: 1 vs. 1,500: 1).
Among the indicators to determine thatBetter, IPS or AMOLED, users call the screen economy. In LED technology, it is achieved due to the glow of individual subpixels. On dark scenes, the screen spends little energy, but more on light ones. Therefore, the power consumption of the display depends on the mode of its use.
Response time also affects the view.consumers, which display is better - IPS or AMOLED. In the latest technology, it is less, which in theory should mean a slightly faster change of the picture. In reality, longer response time IPS is almost imperceptible. And in the Samsung Galaxy S4 another problem manifested itself - a quick change of the image causes a noticeable visual effect.
Another question that allows you to choose AMOLEDor IPS - what better transmits colors? IPS-displays give the image without distorting the color gamut. The color will be bright when it should be. A natural gamut on LED displays is achieved by customizing the software.
Real white on LED displays, as they sayusers difficult to reach. LCD gives an imaginary white color emitted by the phosphor. The result is shades of blue, yellow and pink instead of white. In this case, individual image adjustment can help.
Another parameter to help determineWhich matrix is better - IPS or AMOLED, - preservation of color accuracy when viewed at an angle. If we talk about LCD screens, then their colors are shifted to the cold side, and the non-standard layout of subpixels of LED displays, which is different from the usual one, leads the image to different colors, for example, it can turn green or turn red.
Greater brightness means good visibility.images under strong ambient light conditions. This is the next parameter that will allow you to decide which is better - IPS or AMOLED. The contrast of the screen does not help here. In LCD displays, white light is created by a powerful backlight, and LED panels emit each pixel. This explains the difference in light intensity - AMOLED technology does not yet allow the brightness of subpixels to compete with the backlight in LCD displays.
Что лучше - IPS или AMOLED, - поможет рассудить detail and sharpness of the image. Some users can easily distinguish the sub-pixels of the LED screen, which is not very good. Myopic people clearly see them even with Full HD resolution. This is due to the use of technology PenTile, providing the same glow subpixels of different colors. The image loses in clarity and has less clear contours. Traditional IPS layout means more detail and straightforward lines.
Another "plus" of IPS-technology is"Minus" LED. Organic LEDs fade over time. Although the service life is quite long, differences in the brightness of different areas will become noticeable within a year. LCD screens from burnout problems are spared.
The answer to the question, which is better, IPS or AMOLED, is alsodepends on the price. The cost of the device is determined by the sum of the prices of all its components, of which the most expensive is the display. But the lower price of the gadget does not mean lower screen cost. For example, HTC One with IPS and Samsung Galaxy S4 with Super AMOLED cost the same, although the price of the LED matrix is more.
Technologies have qualities that cancall the advantages or disadvantages depending on the user settings of color and contrast. Although the many available display modes in modern smartphones allows you to achieve maximum quality. Reducing production costs and the added benefits of OLED displays makes them probably more promising, and cheaper LCD displays are destined to fill gaps in the budget segments of the market.
Leading display manufacturers such as LGDisplay, bet on OLED-technology, investing in additional production capacity. The AMOLED panel market is expected to reach $ 30 billion in 2022, more than double the current level. Not to mention the still untapped potential of the flexible display market.
The development of quantum dot LCD displays can reduce the performance gap between LCD and OLED, so it’s not worth while to discount LCD.
Deciding which type of display to choose - Super AMOLEDor IPS, which is better for the user, should be remembered: each technology has its pros and cons. Just weighing all the pros and cons, given the degree of importance of each parameter, and it makes sense to make a choice. LCD screens have a slightly larger number of advantages. Among them - the natural high-quality color and high brightness of the image. LED technology is characterized by excessive color saturation, low readability in bright ambient light and a shorter service life. Nevertheless, AMOLED-displays have an excellent “wow effect”, again and again bringing another victim to consumer ecstasy.
