iPhone XS Max Apple OLED vs LCD quality/clarity

[janeauburn]

For those of you who have used both the OLED phones and the LCD phones, which display is better? Which is clearer?

My own testing suggests that the answer is not unequivocally in favor of OLED. Interested to hear the experiences of others.

 

[akash.nu]

It really depends on individuals. Not every eyes are sensitive to the same screen technology.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I'm looking at my work iPhone 8 and my personal XS side by side with the clock apps open and I really don't see a difference from a normal viewing distance. The fact that this is on a completely black screen which is where the OLED is supposed to shine is very telling of the quality of Apple's LCD.

 

[Raist3001]

I don't think the clock apps background is true black. True black on an OLED looks inky black. No mistaking it in my opinion.

 

[thadoggfather]

I'm looking at my work iPhone 8 and my personal XS side by side with the clock apps open and I really don't see a difference from a normal viewing distance. The fact that this is on a completely black screen which is where the OLED is supposed to shine is very telling of the quality of Apple's LCD.

clock app is near-black or grey, LCD will generally fare better than OLED uniformity wise because the backplane of OLED can show banding / gradient, etc.

Compare Watch app, on OLED its perfect black on LCD its as best as the LCD can render blacks, which is still pretty good for not being self emitting and having a backlight (if you have a good panel)

But there are more characteristics that are important to a display on a mobile device imo than just black levels

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

clock app is near-black or grey, LCD will generally fare better than OLED uniformity wise because the backplane of OLED can show banding / gradient, etc.

Compare Watch app, on OLED its perfect black on LCD its as best as the LCD can render blacks, which is still pretty good for not being self emitting and having a backlight (if you have a good panel)

But there are more characteristics that are important to a display on a mobile device imo than just black levels

My organization doesn't allow the use of the Watch app (for whatever reason).

What other characteristics would you have me compare? I'm genuinely interested to see the differences that seem to turn so many away from the XR.

 

[symphony]

OLED is amazing.

 

[janeauburn]

I'm looking at my work iPhone 8 and my personal XS side by side with the clock apps open and I really don't see a difference from a normal viewing distance. The fact that this is on a completely black screen which is where the OLED is supposed to shine is very telling of the quality of Apple's LCD.

Have the same phones here. To my eye, the 8 Plus looks a tad sharper. Subjectively, it's also often easier to read for some reason.

The obsession with the importance of "true black" that the OLED proponents have is beyond my understanding.

 

[thadoggfather]

My organization doesn't allow the use of the Watch app (for whatever reason).

What other characteristics would you have me compare? I'm genuinely interested to see the differences that seem to turn so many away from the XR.

Cant say because I find XR faults genuinely overblown and prefer it to the X overall that I had previously because of:
lack of PWM (intense flicker you can see when the screen is filmed, like CRT, how much this 'affects' you, if at all, depends on the person)
lack of tint shift intensity and sensitivity on average
more uniform displays on average
no subpixel skimping (pentile)
a physically bigger display (than X/XS)
a less power hungry display
a brighter display (can keep brightness at a lower setting and see more, only making battery life even better which is already beastly on XR with a battery capacity near XS max but powering a much lower resolution display, on top of being LED tech)
easier visibility in sunlight

But what you would probably want to look at is videos, text, and photos. Seems obvious but, those are the criteria.

Cinematic Video and photos side by side can and often do indeed look better on X/XS/Max I will concede, but I spend most of my time reading stuff on my phone and when watching video, brief clips or talk shows where quality doesnt really make a deal breaking difference. If you arent doing side by sides, XR is fine too. it's still a P3 gamut display and quite fine... Plus its not like iPhones havent been LCD up until last year, and people got along just fine. I was FIENDING for an OLED iPhone, probably more than most, but turns out I dont care as much as I thought I wouldve... on a phone. I gave my XR a solid month before trading in my X to be sure I didnt make a mistake.. and I still dont think I did.

Either that or I'm just disappointed with the way OLED was rolled out and its 'anything goes' quality control. I had a beauty of an X after too many 'duds' and what I deemed as instantly ugly displays (and hot pink edges that my eyes were instantly drawn to, in addition to bad tint uniformity), but I had to get the phone swapped and only got a decent serviceable one after that and kinda gave up my pursuit. If its not a cherry picked unit, which it almost certainly will not be, I find the OLED screen to be a bit of a negative actually. And there are still downsides to the tech itself that I listed above, that are independent of panel lottery.

OLED really shines in home theater department where I am always watching movies in a controlled environment. If I can help it, I'll *never* go back to an LED tv. But I'm not watching a movie on my OLED tv outdoors, or on the go, or reading a lot of text, against mostly white screen.


...So it will depend on usage. If you use your XS max as your netflix machine, it might make more sense to pony up for one.

 

[BoricuaHec01]

I can definitely tell the difference in resolution between my Xs Max and my dads 7 Plus, OLED blows it out of the water.

 

[darksithpro]

The obsession with the importance of "true black" that the OLED proponents have is beyond my understanding.

Take the OLED screen and watch a high definition movie in a dark room. Take notice on the contrast levels in dark movie scenes. LCD needs led back light, OLED doesn't. So the LCD screen will always emit a small amount of light and look a little washed out, meaning OLED always have better contrast, HDR like properties.

 

[PeteS1963]

Take the OLED screen and watch a high definition movie in a dark room. Take notice on the contrast levels in dark movie scenes. LCD needs led back light, OLED doesn't. So the LCD screen will always emit a small amount of light and look a little washed out, meaning OLED always have better contrast, HDR like properties.

It really depends on what you are after. Generally speaking I do agree that a good OLED is better than a good LCD. But personally I find iPhones (even the iPhone MAX) too small to comfortably watch movies, dark room or bright room. If I watch a movie the smallest device will be an iPad which of course is LCD.

For photographs I find the colours on OLED (especially on the cheaper OLED but I can notice it on iPhones) to be slightly unnatural and overstated. I take a lot of photos and to me it’s a bit annoying.

 

[Jetcat3]

Samsung’s AMOLED panels on these iPhones are a dream come true for me. No comparison with LCD but I do wish they weren’t so power hungry with high APL’s.

 

[JPack]

Take the OLED screen and watch a high definition movie in a dark room. Take notice on the contrast levels in dark movie scenes. LCD needs led back light, OLED doesn't. So the LCD screen will always emit a small amount of light and look a little washed out, meaning OLED always have better contrast, HDR like properties.

The vast majority of users don't consume video content in a dark room with no ambient lighting. It's similar to the PPI argument. Certainly, those holding their smartphone 6" from their face will notice. For the vast majority of smartphone users, a true black 5.8" display is less appreciated compared to a 6.1" backlit display.

 

[darksithpro]

The vast majority of users don't consume video content in a dark room with no ambient lighting. It's similar to the PPI argument. Certainly, those holding their smartphone 6" from their face will notice. For the vast majority of smartphone users, a true black 5.8" display is less appreciated compared to a 6.1" backlit display.

Perhaps. Here's a really good video that compares the two. IMO OLED is a better, more efficient design.

 

[thadoggfather]

Perhaps. Here's a really good video that compares the two. IMO OLED is a better, more efficient design.

Who is picking apart their device to decide which one they prefer design wise internally tho?

You ever see the back of a flat screen opened up where the non panel electronics are? real dissapointing. Even on a premium tv. Tons of wires a power supply a small PCB and those wires taped to the structure of the tv lol

 

[darksithpro]

Who is picking apart their device to decide which one they prefer design wise internally tho?

That's why we have IFIXIT to do it for us.

You ever see the back of a flat screen opened up where the non panel electronics are? real dissapointing. Even on a premium tv. Tons of wires a power supply a small PCB and those wires taped to the structure of the tv lol

 

[purged]

Absolutely.

 

[PBz]

It really depends on what you are after. Generally speaking I do agree that a good OLED is better than a good LCD. But personally I find iPhones (even the iPhone MAX) too small to comfortably watch movies, dark room or bright room. If I watch a movie the smallest device will be an iPad which of course is LCD.

For photographs I find the colours on OLED (especially on the cheaper OLED but I can notice it on iPhones) to be slightly unnatural and overstated. I take a lot of photos and to me it’s a bit annoying.

Several reasons I went from XS to XR. The inconsistency with photos and editing on OLED was not what I wanted.

 

[Act3]

I’m good with the LCD in my Xr. Would rather have it than OLED for a few reasons. The off angle color shift I found with the OLED was distracting and experienced some eye strain. Also my iPad Pro has lcd which has to be good enough as there are no other choices if I want an iPad.

 

[Analog Kid]

There's a weird OLED cult... OLED is thinner and more flexible than LCD. That's it's main advantage. The other specs are so similar that they're essentially undetectable. One possible exception is off axis viewing distortions-- LCDs lose brightness, OLED loses color accuracy.

True black on an OLED looks inky black.

Nothing is "true black" in a lit room. I've done the math before based on DisplayMate's measurements and basically, if there's enough light in the room that your eyes detect color, then the screen reflections swamp the contrast ratio differences between OLED and LCD. (You need something like 10cd/m^2 to reliably see color, the iPhone X reflects 4.4% of ambient light, and the black levels on on the iPhone 7 are 0.34cd/m^2.)

IMO OLED is a better, more efficient design.

LCD uses an LED backlight, but OLED uses an LED frontlight... Lots of little LEDs aren't necessarily more efficient than a few big ones.

I don't know where I've seen the measurements, but I'm pretty sure the OLED iPhones pull more power than the LCD versions...

 

[purged]

Yeah!

 

[Jetcat3]

I think OLED people are those same ones that love to say how colors "pop" (ugh)

They sure do! It’s all about contrast ratio equating to a more pleasing visual image. Even whites look unreal on an OLED, albeit while doing so much less efficiently than LCD.

XS Max is 4.2 watts full brightness with white display and the X is 3.25 according to DisplayMate. Plus iPhone’s are 1.52 watts. Big difference!

 

[purged]

Okay.

 

[1rottenapple]

Having tried both at home (xr and the max), the max is 100% clear. The xs was 95% clear. I’d have to really look to notice. I recommend people use their wallet and budget to make the decision and not the screen quality. My max was not worth the extra $500.