main point of what I have to say:
I think all the arguing over what these articles are reporting about the hz rating of pwm is kind of moot for a subset of people who have had difficulty with iPhone displays.
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TL/DR long wordy explanation:
I’ve learned to discount the pwm hz value, because for me personally it doesn’t seem to matter the last couple of years since Samsung introduced the refined OLED on the S8 generation.
I can see the subtle flicker on the Pixel 3XL and the S8-Note 10+ displays. On my Pixel 2 it’s actually quite atrocious, yet all it does is make my eyes tired faster and water a little. None of these displays has ever made me suffer from migraines or above average levels of eye strain.
Apple does something unique that has been making some people sick. People who can use other OLED displays.
I haven’t been able to find an article in laymen’s terms to explain exactly what they’re doing. I came across a vague mention once that sounded like they were applying a patented pattern of turning off and on sub pixels in the pentile array. I’m not particularly technically inclined so my interpretation as well as my recollection need to be taken with a grain of salt.
I’m trying to find the damn article again but can’t seem to. Here’s something from a forum discussion that sounds vaguely in the direction of what I am looking for:
It’s a diamond but Apple’s doing a lot of stuff no other vendor has done with OLED before. Waiting to hit it with my loupe. https://t.co/TUESjuMFAA — Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) September 17, 2017 Rene suggests there's more Apple has done here, but on further digging it sounds like he's...
forums.anandtech.com
Now Samsung has finally made OLED displays that pretty much match everything Apple was trying to do previously with their tweaking. So now Apple continues tweaking to get their new Cinematic standard. Super Retina XDR. It’s on their site. I can’t link to it because it’s part of their annoyingly artsyfartsy shifting interactive presentation.
They do say it’s “Custom OLED with consistent color and brightness, even in the corners.”
So there’s that word “custom” again. They can’t let go of their need to differentiate their Samsung displays from the displays everyone else is content to buy untweaked from Samsung.
I do have a Note 10+ to compare to my 11 Pro. The display on my 11 Pro does seem more uniform and text looks like it’s ink printed on paper. Credit where credit is due: There is just a hair or two of visible aesthetic quality above that of the native Samsung display.
Theoretically it should be wonderful for everyone to look at and easy on the eyes.
But clearly for enough people there’s still an underlying flicker that bothers the nervous system.
As I said before on this thread, vision is not just about the eyes alone, but the eyes working in tandem with the brain. If the display is going to irritate your brain then it doesn’t matter how nice it looks, it’s going to wreak havoc on your vision. Not in a “gonna make you blind” way, as so far according to my ophthalmologist my eyes have been healthy. But it will give you watery eyes and migraine symptoms if you’re sensitive to whatever “IT” is that Apple uniquely applies to OLED.
I do suppose, accounting for the variable nature of human physiology, there are unfortunately still plenty of people out there sensitive to pwm itself and all OLED displays are out of the question.