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Apple's OLED vs. LCD: Which is better/clearer?

  • OLED

    Votes: 137 69.2%
  • LCD

    Votes: 51 25.8%
  • Depends (explain)

    Votes: 11 5.6%

  • Total voters
    198

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,724
13,244
UK
I prefer OLED because colours are more vibrant but I think resolution is import too. I’m quite sensitive to lower resolution panels. I’ve had my max next to an XR and I found that the text isn’t as sharp and of course the colours are duller.

It’s not just the Xr and the max.

I had an iPad mini 4 and whilst I was on maternity leave I gave it to my cousin who went back to Thailand to teach English. Anyhow now that I’m back at work I needed a smaller tablet for commuting as my iPad Pro is too big. I decided to try out the fire HD 8 as it was on sale for Black Friday, it’s 720p. I lasted 2 weeks before I went and bought new another iPad mini 4. The screen was just too low res for me. Text was blurry and colours were dull and mutted. These screens are both LCD so the issue here is the resolution.
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
As Askash.nu said in post #1, there is no ‘right’ answer here. Everyone’s perceptions will vary pending what they are used to using for previous displays and how they are able to differentiate the core differences between LCD and OLED.
 

kasakka

macrumors 68020
Oct 25, 2008
2,372
1,066
I honestly don't care either way. I have an OLED iPhone XS and a LCD iPad Pro. Both look great. For the iPhones it comes down to which size you prefer and what your budget allows.
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
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For the iPhones it comes down to which size you prefer and what your budget allows.

Very true. General consumers don’t care OLED vs LCD (Let alone they don’t even know the differences between the two), it’s the size they are choosing they are most comfortable with.
 

OLDGUYWITHAHIFI

Suspended
Nov 14, 2018
235
354
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.

The benefits of OLED becomes apparent on larger screens like a TV or larger monitor. A 65" OLED is amazing. The way it handles blacks compared to a backlit LED is impressive.

But I agree on a 5" or 6" phone the "True black" is not as important or noticeable.
 
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Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,274
8,957
US
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.

I'm using a standard 8, so lower resolution and it still looks fantastic.

I can imagine them in the living room, the type who chooses the "dynamic" storeroom floor preset on their 4K TV, and then cranks the "color", "contrast" and "sharpness" settings all the way up. Probably leaves motion smoothing on too, and stretches 4:3 content to 16:9. Looks great.

I'm kinda this guy, although not to this extreme. I like to turn on the Tritanopia (Blue/Yellow) filter under Display Accommodations every once in a while to really crank up the blues on my phone. You wanna talk about colors popping...
 
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nickchallis92

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2012
906
469
London
You only need to watch a battery life test between LCD phones and OLED phones to see the obvious advantage of OLED screens.

The XR always dies before everything else.
 

davedvdy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2011
803
589
OLED is definitely the best display tech currently unless a user suffers from PWM, or values
a lower priced iPhone.

Apple, Samsung, Huawei, LG, Google, Sony, etc., all use OLED displays in their top flagship phones.

OLED does have drawbacks though, it is far from perfect.
 
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alpi123

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2014
2,023
3,377
OLEDs are mesmerizing, especially the one on the new iPhones. I wished I had one on my laptop lol

And about the Xr battery life - it's the longest not because LCDs are more power efficient but because the phone has fewer pixels, which still plays a role in the battery life. If the OLED iPhones had the same resolution as the Xr, they would be the longest lasting iPhones.

Also not sure if 3D Touch plays a role here.
 

Act3

macrumors 68020
Sep 26, 2014
2,367
2,821
USA
OLED is definitely the best display tech currently unless a user suffers from PWM, or values
a lower priced iPhone.

Apple, Samsung, Huawei, LG, Google, Sony, etc., all use OLED displays in their top flagship phones.

OLED does have drawbacks though, it is far from perfect.

And expensive , probably why the apple flagship iPad Pro has perhaps the best lcd display out there for a tablet.
 

bigjnyc

macrumors G3
Apr 10, 2008
8,283
7,614
Other than a true black screen I could not tell the difference between OLED and LCD iphones... You can put one of each screen in front of me and I would not be able to tell you which is which.... the OLED screens from Apple are so dull that I really don't see any difference over the LCD at all.
 

davedvdy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2011
803
589
And expensive , probably why the apple flagship iPad Pro has perhaps the best lcd display out there for a tablet.

Yeah, and Apple makes great LCD displays. The iPad Pro and XR both look very good.

I'm sure pricing plays a role...OLED is far less common in TV's for example. You could buy maybe 2 or 3 Samsung 4K TV's for some of the pricing of OLED sets (not counting their QLED sets which are a lot pricier than the standard UHD ones).
 

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Oct 1, 2007
16,108
17,030
OLEDs are mesmerizing, especially the one on the new iPhones. I wished I had one on my laptop lol

And about the Xr battery life - it's the longest not because LCDs are more power efficient but because the phone has fewer pixels, which still plays a role in the battery life. If the OLED iPhones had the same resolution as the Xr, they would be the longest lasting iPhones.

Also not sure if 3D Touch plays a role here.

its actually both. Lower resolution display, but also LED consumes less energy than OLED. especially since iOS UI is white everywhere. If they had a dark mode, there would be power efficiency gains since those pixels are shut off completely. Enough to be overall more power efficient than LED? I honestly dunno. I had a jailbroken X with dark mode, and it definitely helped with battery life... but still enough to surpass XR? Granted it was on ios 11, and my XR ios 12, and jailbreak reduces battery somewhat too running additional stuff but i dont think so...

Also helps that XR battery capacity is close to XS Max,
 
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PeteS1963

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2014
480
356

https://www.macworld.com/article/3318198/iphone-ipad/iphone-xr-benchmarks.html

7E27856F-CFED-4DB0-B51E-173EC72FC648.jpeg
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
You only need to watch a battery life test between LCD phones and OLED phones to seeThe XR always dies before everything else.

This is a broad stroked statement. You should take the time to research how many members have had stellar battery life on the XR. And we all know, battery life is variable for everyone based off the user and settings.
 
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Cryates

macrumors 68040
Nov 19, 2013
3,341
5,283
Call me crazy, but, I prefer Apple’s LCD to any OLED panel, including the one used in the XS Max. For clarification, I used an XS Max for a bit but now use a (Product)RED XR. Loved both, but my wife wanted a Max and I wanted a red XR so I swapped with her and we are both stupid happy with the decision.

OLED is great, don’t get me wrong, and Apple has done some fantastic work to mitigate things like burn-in and such. I like infinite black levels, but I absolutely do not find that a deal-breaker like some do. Also, I’m perfectly fine with 326 PPI on a small display. I’d rather have the added battery gains.

One issue I cannot get past with OLED is black crush/smear. I know most folks won’t care about it that much, and they’d rather have their infinite blacks, but I do a lot of my phoning (that’s a word, right?) in low light, both at home and at work. A side effect of OLED is black crush/smear and it’s absolutely indicative of a technology that just isn’t fully matured yet. For now, and I know I’m in the minority, I’ll take Apple’s LCD if given the option.
 

nickchallis92

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2012
906
469
London
You only need to watch similar videos that test the 8+ with its LCD screen that also dies in half the time of any OLED product.
 
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