tft lcd vs oled factory

A new form of display technology called Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) is sweeping the display world today. Let’s take a look at what TFT display VS OLED display and how it stacks up to TFTs.

OLED display uses a light-emitting diode (LED) that features an organic compound as its emissive electroluminescent layer. Electric current is applied to the diode, activating the organic compound film and giving off light as a result. The organic compound film is typically situated between two electrodes, one of which is transparent.

OLEDs are mostly used in smartphones and limited releases of high-end smart televisions. It can also be used in computer monitors and handheld game consoles.

OLED displays naturally emit light, so using them on a display panel doesn’t require a backlight. Meanwhile, LCDs need backlights because the liquid crystals cannot create light on their own. OLED’s natural light emission also paves the way for creating lighter screen devices than those using TFT LCD display.

LCD displays are brighter than OLED. This is due to the LCD’s use of backlights that can brightly light up the entire screen. While OLEDs emit good brightness levels from their light, they can never match the brightness that LCD backlights have.

OLED wins in the black levels feature. It’s because OLEDs can perfectly turn off a pixel, causing it to become completely black. LCDs can’t create perfect black screens even with their full-array local dimming feature. LCDs are also prone to blooming, where a bright part spoils the darkness of an adjacent black area.

OLED screens have better viewing angles than LCDs display. Some LCDs improve their viewing angles by using in-plane switching panels (IPS). However, the clarity of images and videos can’t match that of OLEDs when viewed from extreme side angles. This is because LCDs inherently block light due to their filtering layers, and that creates added depth which makes LCD viewing angles limited.

LCD displays are a bit more energy-efficient than OLEDs. Energy consumption in OLED displays depends on the screen brightness. Less brightness used means lower power consumption, but this may not be ideal because the contrast ratio will suffer when brightness is reduced. This is not ideal if, for instance, you’re using an OLED smartphone under bright sunlight.

Meanwhile, the backlights form the bulk of power consumption in TFT displays. Putting the backlight to a lower setting significantly improves the energy efficiency of TFT displays. For instance, reducing the backlight brightness of an LCD TV with a LED backlight won’t affect the picture quality but will draw less power consumption than an OLED TV.

Both OLED and LCD create high-quality images with a wide color gamut on a screen. OLED display wins over TFT display regarding blackness levels and viewing angle. However, the TFT display takes the cake for brightness and energy efficiency.

AMOLED is another emerging display technology lately. It stands for Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. AMOLED is a type of OLED display used in several smartphones, digital cameras, televisions, and media players.

Thin film transistors (TFTs) and capacitors are attached to each pixel LED component of the panel. At least two TFTs are attached to one pixel – one to control the capacitor’s charging and another to give a voltage source.

AMOLED displays have better color accuracy than LCDs. What makes the color more accurate in AMOLED displays is largely due to the precise pixel control achieved by AMOLED panels.

Whites and blacks appear perfect in AMOLED displays. Whites produced by LCDs may carry a bluish tint due to the backlight. Blacks don’t completely appear dark in LCDs, too.

AMOLED provides a greater color gamut than LCDs. AMOLEDs (and all OLED displays in general) have additional blue and green saturation. While these hues greatly widen AMOLED’s color options, some people find the resulting colors a bit unnatural to look at.

Meanwhile, LCDs have subdued greens and quite compelling red hues. Its color gamutmay not be as wide as AMOLED’s, but many people still find it satisfying. That’s because LCD’s color range closely matches the Standard RBG color gamut profile, the one most utilized in videos and images.

LCD’s backlights help maintain the color balance of the entire screen. The backlights ensure that color balance remains consistent across the display. Meanwhile, AMOLED tends to suffer from very slight color balance drifts because of variances in the diodes’ light-emitting capacity over time.

LCDs often have a lower contrast ratio and are prone to light bleeds. That’s due to the backlights remaining open even if light has been blocked and the pixels are supposed to show black color. This is not a problem with AMOLED displays because the panel can simply switch off the pixel to create a pure black color. AMOLEDs have a better contrast ratio as exhibited by their pure black and white levels.

Since AMOLED displays do not require filtering layers and backlights, they’re more suited for use in handheld mobile devices such as smartphones and gaming consoles. LCD may be used in mobile devices as well, but the filtering layers and backlights tend to add a slight bulk to the device. Hence, many manufacturers are now switching to thinner and lighter AMOLED displays.

To sum up this part, AMOLED displays fare better than LCDs in terms of color gamut, accuracy, contrast, and mobile device suitability. However, LCDs have the potential for longer lifespans and carry a better color balance across the display device.

If you compare color LCD vs Display P3, you’ll find a significantly wider color range in Display P3 than the typical sRGB used in color LCDs. LCD monitors, especially those used in computers and laptops, are configured to accurately represent the sRGB gamut as precisely as possible. Meanwhile, Display P3 has been consistently used in Apple products since 2015, starting with the iMac desktop.

That’s all the basic information you need to know about LCD display screens. And the difference between TFT Display VS OLED Display. Now, you know How LCD Works, its possible lifespan, components, and how it compares to other display technologies.

Armed with this information, you can better appreciate and take care of your LCD display devices. And in case you’re planning to add display devices to your business, the information you’ve learned will help you make educated choices regarding the display technologies you’ll utilize.

TFT LCD is a mature technology. OLED is a relatively new display technology, being used in more and more applications. As for Micro LED, it is a new generation technology with very promising future. Followings are the pros and cons of each display technology.

TFT Liquid Crystal Display is widely used these days. Since LCD itself doesn"t emit light. TFT LCD relies on white LED backlight to show content. This is an explanation of how TFT LCD works.

Relatively lower contrast：Light needs to pass through LCD glasses, liquid crystal layer, polarizers and color filters. Over 90% is lost. Also, LCD can not display pure black.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode is built from an electro-luminescent layer that contains organic compounds, which emit light in response to an electric current. There are two types of OLED, Passive Matrix OLED (PMOLED) and Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED). These driving methods are similar to LCD"s. PMOLED is controlled sequentially using a matrix addressing scheme, m + n control signals are required to address a m x n display. AMOLED uses a TFT backplane that can switch individual pixels on and off.

Low power consumption and flexible: OLED doesn"t rely on backlight and consumes less power. OLED is essentially created on plastic film. It is bendable and easy to process.

High contrast and vivid color: OLED emits light itself, can produce very bright image with beautiful color. And because OLED can be turned off, it can produce true black.

Stroboscopic effect: most OLED screen uses PWM dimming technology. Some people who are easy perceive stroboscopic frequency may have sore eyes and tears.

​Micro LED, sometimes called μLED is made up of tiny LED, measure less than 100μm. Another way of looking at this is that MicroLEDs are simply traditional LEDs shrunk down and placed into an array.

Replacing organic material with inorganic GaN material eliminates the need of polarizing and encapsulation layer, found in OLED. Micro LED is smaller and thinner, consumes less power.

TFT displays are also known as an “Active Matrix TFT LCD module” and have an array of thin film transistors fabricated on the glass that makes the LCD. There is one of these transistors for each pixel on the LCD.

LCDs use voltage applied to a field of microscopic liquid crystals to change the crystal’s orientation, which in turn changes the polarization of the liquid crystal which creates light or dark pixels on the display.

Beautiful, complex images: All of our TFT modules are full-color graphic displays. Unlike standard monochrome character displays, you can create complex images for an imaginative user experience.

Single Supply: Most of the TFTs use an integrated controller with built-in voltage generation so only a single 3.3v supply is needed for both the panel power and logic voltage.

Many of our character LCD modules use a standard HD44780 controller, so they can be quickly integrated into a new product or used as a replacement in your existing products.

Many of the LCD controllers on board our graphic LCD display modules also include a CGROM (character generator ROM) which allows for easy character information as well as full bit-mapped graphic information to be shown.

Some of the graphic LCD displays have the ability to render graphics in grayscale, enabling you to show images and elements of your UI (user interface) with more depth and definition.

Because OLEDs are emissive, these displays can always be used in dark environments. There is usually a software command or hardware setting that will allow OLEDs to be dimmed.

Some OLED displays are bright enough to be sunlight readable–these models will typically take more current and may have a shorter rated lifetime. Additionally, OLEDs have extremely wide viewing angles.

What makes OLEDs useful for display construction is that they can be fabricated in bulk. Using OLED fabrication techniques, all the diodes can be made at the same time, at a much lower cost. OLEDs also come in a wide variety of colors.

In market, LCD means passive matrix LCDs which increase TN (Twisted Nematic), STN (Super Twisted Nematic), or FSTN (Film Compensated STN) LCD Displays. It is a kind of earliest and lowest cost display technology.

LCD screens are still found in the market of low cost watches, calculators, clocks, utility meters etc. because of its advantages of low cost, fast response time (speed), wide temperature range,  low power consumption, sunlight readable with transflective or reflective polarizers etc.  Most of them are monochrome LCD display and belong to passive-matrix LCDs.

TFT LCDs have capacitors and transistors. These are the two elements that play a key part in ensuring that the TFT display monitor functions by using a very small amount of energy without running out of operation.

Normally, we say TFT LCD panels or TFT screens, we mean they are TN (Twisted Nematic) Type TFT displays or TN panels, or TN screen technology. TFT is active-matrix LCDs, it is a kind of LCD technologies.

TFT has wider viewing angles, better contrast ratio than TN displays. TFT display technologies have been widely used for computer monitors, laptops, medical monitors, industrial monitors, ATM, point of sales etc.

Actually, IPS technology is a kind of TFT display with thin film transistors for individual pixels. But IPS displays have superior high contrast, wide viewing angle, color reproduction, image quality etc. IPS screens have been found in high-end applications, like Apple iPhones, iPads, Samsung mobile phones, more expensive LCD monitors etc.

Both TFT LCD displays and IPS LCD displays are active matrix displays, neither of them can produce color, there is a layer of RGB (red, green, blue) color filter in each LCD pixels to make LCD showing colors. If you use a magnifier to see your monitor, you will see RGB color. With switch on/off and different level of brightness RGB, we can get many colors.

Neither of them can’t release color themselves, they have relied on extra light source in order to display. LED backlights are usually be together with them in the display modules as the light sources. Besides, both TFT screens and IPS screens are transmissive, it will need more power or more expensive than passive matrix LCD screens to be seen under sunlight.  IPS screens transmittance is lower than TFT screens, more power is needed for IPS LCD display.

TFT stands for ‘Thin Film Transistor’ – it is a type of LCD that gives higher resolution and better image quality than standard LCDs. These are usually coloured, but Mono is becoming more popular and therefore more readily available.

OLED stands for ‘Organic Light Emitting Diode’. It has a layer of organic compound that emits its own light eliminating the requirement for a backlight. They are super thin, have a really wide viewing angle with exceptional contrast ratios. Some can also be curved, creating all sorts of interesting new applications for example LG’s new ‘wallpaper TV’.

This depends on the application and what you want to achieve, this is a very subjective question. LCDs can be very cheap – the older green and black ones (think calculators for example) can be extremely cheap, but they are not as colourful or easy to read as newer technologies. TFTs will give you full colour and a higher solution than an LCD, but they are more difficult to drive and tend to be more expensive. OLED is a relatively new technology. OLEDs are lower power than TFT and offer very good viewing, but have lifetime issues and are only available in smaller sizes.

OLEDs currently range from 1” to 6” – Please note manufacturers such as LG have much bigger OLED televisions but these are a different technology to those available in the industrial market.

For LCD and TFT displays, most power is consumed by the backlight. If you turn the backlight off on a standard LCD, the display itself can run from batteries for many days.

Nearly all TFTs need to have their backlight on to be able to work, which is why your tablet or phone shuts down the backlight quickly when it detects you are not using it. There are some TFTs that can work with no backlight, but they are unique and expensive.

An OLED is self-emitting, so has no backlight. With an OLED, power consumption is controllable by the user – if you want the battery to last longer then dim the display, or show fewer dots as each dot consumes power.

An LCD will work very well in direct sunlight. We actually use the sunlight as the backlight, as it bounces off the rear and becomes part of the display.

We can also achieve this in TFT by adding special films - it does decrease the overall brightness of the display but enables it to be run in direct sunlight.

We all use and handle TFTs in our daily lives with phones, monitors, laptops etc. All of these use TFT displays, but they are very different to TFTs we may use in industrial applications. Why is this?

Consumer electronics have a different specification requirement to those of us in the industrial world. From the outside, they may well look the same with the same TFT cell and white LED backlights, but the differences then start to show. Laptop screens for example are designed to be as thin and lightweight as possible – often just 3mm thick and very susceptible to physical damage, not something you would want in an industrial application.

Consumer TFTs are also designed for typically one product, and when the next one is launched their specification will change to meet the requirements of that next generation, often meaning things like mounting holes and connector positions have changed in the space of a few months.

Industrial displays have been designed and developed to overcome all of these issues. They use fixed rigid mounting holes, the interfaces are industry standard and most importantly they have a guaranteed lifetime of at least 5 years, so you can guarantee you will not have to redesign your own product due to TFT changes.

Intelligent Display Solutions (IDS) has recently introduced a whole family of industrial TFTs into RS Components, all incorporating the latest technology and all available for 5 years minimum.

It"s an organic light-emitting display. OLED display technology is different from the traditional LCD display mode, without backlight. It uses a very thin coating of organic materials and a glass substrate, which emit light when an electric current passes through. Moreover, OLED screen module can be made lighter and thinner, with larger viewing angle, and can significantly save power.

AMOLED is panel-self luminous. The TFT is illuminated on the LCD panel by backlight. AMOLED effect is more colorful and brighter. The screen can be seen clearly outside during the day. The most important is that the power consumption of AMOLED is much lower. AMOLED screen is more expensive than TFT LCD touch screen. The life of AMOLED screens is also longer.

AMOLED, after all, is a new technology, which has a bright future. TFT LCD touch screen can be thinned, and LTPS technology is still relatively stable. AMOLED module has low qualified rate and long lead time. So if the size and resolution are the same, buy the cheapest one.

Kingtech LCD is one of the leading TFT LCD OEM / ODM LCD display manufacturers in China. Customizing industrial equipment, medical, POS, logistics equipment, smart home applications and other projects is allowed.

If you’re designing a display application or deciding what type of TV to get, you’ll probably have to choose between an OLED or LCD as your display type.

LCDs utilize liquid crystals that produce an image when light is passed through the display. OLED displays generate images by applying electricity to organic materials inside the display.OLED and LCD Main Difference:

graphics and images visible. This is the reason you’re still able to see light coming through on images that are meant to be dark on an LCD monitor, display, or television.

OLEDs by comparison, deliver a drastically higher contrast by dynamically managing their individual pixels. When an image on an OLED display uses the color black, the pixel shuts off completely and renders a much higher contrast than that of LCDs.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at contrast?

Having a high brightness level is important if your display is going to be used in direct sunlight or somewhere with high ambient brightness. The display"s brightness level isn"t as important if it’s going to be used indoors or in a low light setting.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at Brightness?

This means the display is much thinner than LCD displays and their pixels are much closer to the surface of the display, giving them an inherently wider viewing angle.

You’ll often notice images becoming distorted or losing their colors when tilting an LCD or when you view it from different angles. However, many LCDs now include technology to compensate for this – specifically In-Plane Switching (IPS).

LCDs with IPS are significantly brighter than standard LCDs and offer viewing angles that are on-par with OLEDs.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at Viewing Angles?

LCDs have been on the market much longer than OLEDs, so there is more data to support their longevity. On average LCDs have proven to perform for around 60,000 hours (2,500) days of operation.

With most LCDs you can expect about 7 years of consistent performance. Some dimming of the backlight has been observed but it is not significant to the quality of the display.

OLEDs are a newer technology in the display market, which makes them harder to fully review. Not only does OLED technology continue to improve at a rapid pace, but there also hasn’t been enough time to thoroughly observe their performance.

You must also consider OLED’s vulnerability to image burn-in. The organic material in these displays can leave a permanent afterimage on the display if a static image is displayed for too long.

So depending on how your OLED is used, this can greatly affect its lifespan. An OLED being used to show static images for long periods of time will not have the same longevity as one displaying dynamic, constantly moving images.OLED vs LCD - Which one last longer?

There is not yet a clear winner when it comes to lifespans between LCD and OLED displays. Each have their advantages depending on their use-cases. It’s a tie!

For a display application requiring the best colors, contrast, and viewing angles – especially for small and lightweight wearable devices – we would suggest an OLED display.

Engineers should choose TFT vs OLED for new designs…and here’s why. OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology continues to increase in popularity, but its growth has really exploded in the last few months due to such large-scale mass production of consumer products such as: e-cigarettes (personal vaporizers), smart-watches, cell phones and other wearables.

But these advantages have worked against OLEDs in new products as more and more new designs have incorporated OLEDs, increasing demand, while the supply side of this technology has failed to keep pace.

“There are only a handful of factories here in Shenzhen that produce OLED screens,” says Alex Liu, President of EC Supply Inc., a leading distributor of vape and electronic cigarette products. “These factories are extremely understaffed for the tens of millions of OLED screens that are in demand, yet everyone wants to jump on board the wearable technology craze. These factories simply lack the work force and raw materials to keep up with production of wearables, let alone fulfill relatively small orders for the vape industry in time for the holiday season.”

Adding to the OLED supply nightmare is the labor shortage in China coupled with many OEM customers increasing their order quantities in a race to beat the Chinese New year shut down.

“I strongly recommend customers purchase any MODs with OLED screens through a trusted source that can guarantee inventory.” – Alex Liu, President of EC Supply Inc.

TFT technology has been in production for several years and is here to stay. There are several TFT glass suppliers to support current demand and they have a great deal of capacity for increased demand.

Focus Displays carries TFT Displays as a standard stock item and can be shipped the same day from our online store as well as from distributor: Allied Electronics

The viewfinder in the E-m10 mark II/III/IIIs/IV, Pen-F, and E-m5 mark III is an OLED viewfinder. The viewfinder in the E-m5 mark I/II, E-m1 mark I/II/II, E-m1x, Stylus-1, and the VF-2/VF-3/VF-4 viewfinders is a TFT LCD viewfinder. They have different characteristics:

In general an OLED viewfinder does not have issues if you look at the viewfinder while wearing polarized sunglasses and shooting in horizontal orientation. Most of the TFT LCD viewfinders have horizontal waves alternating between no distortion and heavy distortion (you can select the focus point if you concentrate on the areas where there is no distortion, but you would not be able to manually focus). However, the E-m5 mark II is different that when I"ve tried it, the viewfinder is completely opaque. Note, if you shoot in vertical orientation, there is not degradation.

In general, TFT viewfinders can refresh their images much faster that OLED displays can. I suspect this is the reason Olympus uses TFT viewfinders in the modern pro cameras.

Generally I find that the OLED viewfinder supersaturates the image compared to the TFT LCD viewfinder. This is great, many people like the supersaturation, but the picture that is recorded is not supersatured, and if you wanted the picture you saw in the viewfinder, you will need to bump up the levels somewhat in post processing.

In terms of computer monitors and TVs that use OLED displays compared to TFT LCD display, the OLED displays tend to fail sooner than the TFT displays. A particular failure mode is that often the OLED displays start losing color fidelity (particularly in the blue colors). However, I"m not sure it matters as much for a camera display. Most users probably don"t use their cameras enough for the monitor to fail. Those that do use their cameras day in and day typically replace their cameras every few years.

Also in terms of computer monitors and TVs that use OLED displays compared to TFT LCD displays, you can typically view an OLED screen at a wider angle than a TFT LCD screen. For a camera viewfinder, I suspect this is not an issue.

World wide, the cell phone market tends to consume most of the OLED displays. This leaves very few different displays that camera makers could use. TFT LCD display are older technology and there are likely different sources of the display.

I"m a migraine sufferer and I need to weark polarized sunglasses whenever I"m outdoors in daylight. So I now prefer cameras with OLED viewfinders over TFT LCD viewfinders.

I"ve run into other migraine sufferes that are sensitive to the refresh rate, but don"t need polarized glasses like I do. For them, the cameras with the TFT LCD finders are better because of the faster refresh rate.

Note, the E-m1 mark II viewfinder uses a TFT LCD type display, similar to the display used in most cameras rear screen. The E-m1 mark I/III, E-m1x, E-m5 mark I/II, E-m10 mark I and Stylus-1 all use a similar screen.

Typically the rear screen of Olympus cameras uses a TFT LCD display. The only two cases where I know Olympus used an OLED display is the E-m5 mark I and Tough TG-2.

One "feature" of TFT LCD screens is that if you wear polarized sunglasses, one orientation has distortions or is completely opaque while the other orientation is fine. For Olympus viewfinders (including the old VF-2/VF-3/VF-4) the problematical orientation is horizontal or landscape orientation. For the rear display, the problematical orientation is vertical or portrait orientation.

As to why Olympus uses the TFT LCD viewfinders in the higher end (and older) cameras is that they can get a faster refresh rate with TFT LCD (120fps for the E-m1 mark II if memory serves compared to 60fps). When I tested my E-m1 mark II, I found that the camera used about 16% more power when I used the higher refresh rate. Note, there are other cameras (notably the Panasonic G9) that claims to have OLED displays with faster refresh rates. Olympus does not seem to use these types of displays.

I have talked to other migraine sufferers that didn"t need the polarized sunglasses, but for them the faster refresh rates were important, and they liked the TFT LCD displays for that reason. I think in older cameras, Olympus used 30fps for the OLED displays and 60fps for the TFT LCD displays.

I find in general, that cameras with OLED viewfinders (or OLED rear displays like the E-m5 mark I) that the colors seem to be a little supersaturated. I mentally have to tone down the saturation when I"m trying to evaluate what the photo will look like, or if I liked the saturation, I would have to bump up the levels in post processing.

FWIW, OLED displays do not use a backlight, so they wouldn"t see this type of issue. Also OLED displays tend to show true black better than TFT LCD displays.

Reports suggest that Apple is getting closer to implementing MicroLED in its future product releases, including the Apple Watch, with the display technology potentially offering a number of benefits compared to other methods. AppleInsider explains how the current TFT and OLED display technologies work, and how MicroLED differs.

MicroLED shows promise as a display technology, potentially offering power savings and a reduced screen thickness when put beside current-generation display panels. Apple has recognized the potential, and has invested heavily into developing the technology over the last few years, with a view to using it in the company"s future products.

To understand fully how MicroLED can benefit Apple, it is worth understanding how the commonly-used display technologies work in the first place, before examining how different MicroLED really is in a comparison.

The most common display technology used by consumer products today, and the oldest of the technologies examined in this article, TFT"s full name of TFT LCD stands for Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display. This technology is extensively used by Apple in its products, found in iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, and iMac lines.

The LCD part relates to the concept of defining small translucent or transparent areas in a thin and flexible liquid crystal-filled panel, like the displays used in calculators. Passing current through the segment changes the molecular properties of the defined segment area, allowing it to switch between being see-through or opaque.

TFT takes this a stage further, by effectively covering an entire panel with a grid of isolated liquid crystal segments, which again can vary between opaque and transparent based on the level of electrical current. In this case, there are far more segments needed to make up the display than with a normal calculator.

Polarizing filters on either side of the TFT display sandwich are used to prevent light from passing through directly, with the liquid crystal reaction of each segment affecting polarized light passing through the first filter to go through the second.

Sometimes these types of display are known as "LED," but this somewhat of a misnomer, as this actually refers to the use of Light Emitting Diodes as a light source. The LED backlight shines light through the various layers making up the TFT LCD.

TFT LCD screens continue to be widely used in production for a number of reasons. Manufacturers have spent a long time perfecting the production of the display panels to make it as cheap as possible, while its high usage allows it to benefit from economies of scale.

Used in consumer devices in a similar way to TFT LCD, OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is a display technology that is similar in the basic concept, but differs considerably in its execution. Again, the idea is for a thin panel to be divided up into segments, with charge applied to each section to alter its molecular properties, but that"s where the techniques diverge.

As the name implies, OLED uses an organic compound film that is put between two electrodes, which are used to provide charge. Instead of the charge changing how light passes through, the current instead causes the emissive electroluminescent layer to emit light, without the need for a rear light source.

These self-emitting pixels gives OLED a considerable advantage over LCD-based systems in a number of areas. Most obviously, by not needing a backlight, OLED panels can be made far thinner than an equivalent LCD-based display, allowing for the production of thinner devices or more internal area for other components, like a larger battery.

The power efficiency of OLED panels can be far greater, as while a TFT screen requires an always-on backlight, the brightness of OLED pixels themselves determine power usage, with a black pixel consuming no power at all. OLED screens are also faster to respond than LCD displays, making them more useful for VR displays, where response time needs to be as rapid as possible.

This also allows OLED to provide superior contrast ratios compared to TFT, as the lack of backlight bleed-through that occurs in TFT simply doesn"t happen in OLED.

OLED also can be produced on plastic substrates instead of glass, allowing it to be used to create flexible displays. While this is currently embodied in curved and other non-flat screens in some devices, it has the potential to be employed in foldable smartphones or rolled up for storage, an area Apple is also allegedly examining.

Despite the advantages, OLED is still lagging behind TFT in terms of adoption. The cost of production is far higher, in part due to the need for extremely clean environments, as a single speck of dust can potentially ruining a display during fabrication.

OLED panels are also affected by the presence of water, both in production and in use. Small amounts of water contacting the organic substrate can cause immediate damage to the display, rendering parts of the screen useless.

So far, Apple"s usage of OLED consists of the premium iPhone X and the Apple Watch. As the cost of production drops down, it is plausible for Apple to use OLED in more future products, providing a better screen for customers to use.

Thought to be the next big thing in display technology, MicroLED basically takes the idea of using LEDs for pixels in a large stadium-style screen and miniaturizes it all.

Using extremely small LEDs, three MicroLEDs are put together to create each pixel, with each subpixel emitting a different color from the usual red, blue, and green selection. As each LED emits light, there is no need for a backlight as used in TFT screens.

MicroLED doesn"t use an organic compound to produce light, making it less susceptible to failure compared to OLED. Just like OLED, it can be applied onto a flexible material, allowing it to be used for curved displays or non-stationary components, like a watch strap, and can result in an extremely thin display panel.

MicroLED offers the same lower power consumption and high contrast ratio benefits as OLED when compared to TFT. However, MicroLED is also capable of producing a far brighter image than OLED, up to 30 times brighter, and is in theory more efficient in converting electricity into light.

As a relatively new and in-development technology, the cost of MicroLED production is extremely high in comparison to the more established OLED and TFT mass production lines, in part due to lower than required yields. Manufacturing equipment vendors have produced hardware for MicroLED production that cuts defects in half and reduces deposition deviance from 3 nanometers down to 1 nanometer, but it is unclear if this is enough to help mass production move forward.

While MicroLED is an attractive proposition for Apple, it is not the only technology under development by the company"s engineers. Apple has previously filed patent applications for a technology described as "Quantum Dot LED and OLED Integration for High Efficiency Displays."

Quantum Dots are photoluminescent particles included in an LED-backed TFT display that can produce brighter and more vibrant colors, with the colors produced depending on their size. While available in current QLED televisions, the technology is only really being used to enhance the backlight, rather than being used to illuminate individual pixels.

The technology in theory can create an even thinner display than OLED, along with a more streamlined manufacturing process. True QD displays are also capable of high pixel densities of up to 1,000ppi, multiple times the density required to be called a Retina-quality display, and based on Apple"s hybrid invention, will also boast the response times of OLED technology.

Apple has been interested in using the technology for some time now, with the first notable sign being its acquisition of LuxVue in May 2014, alongside assorted related patents. A MicroLED specialist, LuxVue was rumored to have been the display producer for the ill-fated Google Glass headset, but was also the holder of assorted patents in the LED display field, including MicroLED.

At the time, the acquisition was thought to be an attempt by Apple to bring part of its display technology development in-house, with suggestions the MicroLED technology would be used in another rumored-at-the-time device, the Apple Watch. A more recent report suggests Apple is working with TSMC to make small panels for a future premium Apple Watch, potentially starting mass production by the end of the year.

Apple has also reportedly set up a secret facility just 15 minutes away from Apple Park, believed to be used for developing MicroLED. The 62,000 square-foot facility is thought to house around 300 engineers on a project named "T159," relating directly to the technology"s development.

The facility is also claimed to be sufficient in size to perform small scale manufacturing of display panels, allowing the company to keep development and testing in-house without involving third-parties. Considering Apple"s previous history in developing technologies before issuing information to manufacturing partners, it is possible that Apple is trying to work out the kinks in production before suppliers even attempt to make MicroLED panels.

Reports from last year also suggest Apple"s investment in MicroLED was a cause for concern for Samsung, LG, and other South Korean suppliers who provide display panels for the company"s products. Owning the process for MicroLED manufacturing could allow Apple to migrate away from its existing display suppliers in the coming years, reducing revenues and profits.

Aside from Apple"s development, there has been little in the way of announcements from other firms for products using the technology that could be bought by consumers in the coming months. The exception is Samsung, Apple"s main rival in the mobile marketplace and a major supplier of display panels, but its usage of MicroLED is not aimed at producing smaller screens.

At CES 2018, Samsung introduced The Wall, a 148-inch TV claimed to be the "world"s first consumer modular MicroLED" television. According to the South Korean electronics giant, The Wall"s modularity meant consumers would be able to customize their television"s size and shape to suit their needs.

The impending use of the technology in a high-priced consumer product could be considered proof that MicroLED display technology is maturing enough for use in devices. If the reports claiming Apple is getting close to mass producing panels is true, the inclusion of MicroLED in the Apple Watch could end up being the first mainstream usage of the technology.

AMOLED and TFT are two types of display technology used in smartphones. AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) displays are made up of tiny organic light-emitting diodes, while TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) displays use inorganic thin-film transistors.

AMOLEDs are made from organic materials that emit light when an electric current is passed through them, while TFTs use a matrix of tiny transistors to control the flow of electricity to the display.

Refresh Rate: Another key difference between AMOLED and TFT displays is the refresh rate. The refresh rate is how often the image on the screen is updated. AMOLED screens have a higher refresh rate than TFT screens, which means that they can display images more quickly and smoothly.

Response Time: The response time is how long it takes for the pixels to change from one colour to another. AMOLED screens have a shorter response time than TFT screens..

Colour Accuracy/Display Quality: AMOLED screens are more accurate when it comes to displaying colours. This is because each pixel on an AMOLED screen emits its own light, which means that the colours are more pure and true to life. TFT screens, on the other hand, use a backlight to illuminate the pixels, which can cause the colours to appear washed out or less vibrant.

Viewing Angle: The viewing angle is the angle at which you can see the screen. AMOLED screens have a wider viewing angle than TFT screens, which means that you can see the screen from more angles without the colours looking distorted.

Power Consumption: One of the main advantages of AMOLED displays is that they consume less power than TFT displays. This is because the pixels on an AMOLED screen only light up when they need to, while the pixels on a TFT screen are always illuminated by the backlight.

Production Cost: AMOLED screens are more expensive to produce than TFT screens. This is because the manufacturing process for AMOLED screens is more complex, and the materials used are more expensive.

Availability: TFT screens are more widely available than AMOLED screens and have been around for longer. They are typically used in a variety of devices, ranging from phones to TVs.

Usage: AMOLED screens are typically used in devices where power consumption is a concern, such as phones and wearable devices. TFT screens are more commonly used in devices where image quality is a higher priority, such as TVs and monitors.

AMOLED and TFT are two different types of display technology. AMOLED displays are typically brighter and more vibrant, but they are more expensive to produce. TFT displays are cheaper to produce, but they are not as bright or power efficient as AMOLED displays.

The display technology that is best for you will depend on your needs and preferences. If you need a screen that is bright and vibrant, then an AMOLED display is a good choice. If you need a screen that is cheaper to produce, then a TFT display is a good choice. However, if you’re worried about image retention, then TFT may be a better option.

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode and is made up of individual image elements called pixels comprised of organic chemical compounds which emit light when an electric current is applied between a anode and cathode of each pixel. This process is similar in operation to a standard LED operation where light emission is through the recombination of electrons and holes from the cathode and anode.

OLEDs and LCDs are used in display devices but are very different in how they present their display information. An OLED is an emissive type of display meaning it’s self-illuminating. An LCD, however, presents information via transmissive or transflective methods, which means that image illumination is supplied with methods such as a backlight and room light or the sun.

PMOLED stands for Passive Matrix OLED and is fabricated of emitting OLED pixel arrays configured in columns and rows with each pixel intersecting at a column row. These OLED pixels are arranged where their anodes are current driven by an electronic controller chip which also controls the cathode turn on to produce the desired display image.

The controller electronic continually scans the entire OLED column and row array at a set frame rate to produce an image. Because of this, the most power efficient display designs are best in smaller display sizes of 3” or less.

AMOLED stands for Active Matrix OLED and is fabricated similarly to a TFT display with each individual pixel element being addressable unlike the row and column design of a PMOLED. PMOLED displays are good for displaying text but fall short when displaying moving images due to the time needed to scan the rows and columns which can cause a perceived ghosting.

On the contrary, with an AMOLED, each individual OLED pixel can be turned on individually without the need to scan an entire array making them far superior for moving images. This allows the AMOLED to produce an image without any ghosting. This individually pixel design also allows for better illumination control for a brighter, higher contrast, more power efficient display. AMOLED displays are much faster the LCDs which makes them more attractive for video displays.

OLED displays have an advantage over other displays such as TFT LCDs since they are a self emitting light source and do not need a separate external light source in order to display an image. Therefore, they are more efficient. This self-illumination allows OLED displays to be much thinner than other technologies and can even be used in flexible displays as well. Some other advantages are:

OLED displays have found their way into many handheld products since their onset and continue to be popular in the mobile market. OLED displays can also be found in gaming applications and audiovisual applications such as programmable push button switches. OLED displays can also be found in cameras, PDA’s, and a few small TV’s.

Note: this is an excerpt from a six-part series from Focus Display Solutions of Chandler, Ariz. The series will provide non-technical insights into why products such as cell phones use a color display, and other instruments, such as a blood pressure monitor, use 20-year-old non-color monochrome technology. This series will cover terms such as half-life, power budget, NRE, transflective, and others, and address the different LCD module options available when selecting a display for your product by being broken down into the following parts:Which color LCD technology is best for your application?

When choosing between a color LCD display and a monochrome display, there are several variables to consider. These include cost, EOL (end-of-life), power consumption, ability to customize, and appearance or perception of your product.

Three of the mainstream color LCD technologies currently in use are TFT, OLED and FSC. My goal is to help the OEMs understand and decide which display is best for their product and will appeal the most to their end customer.

TFTs (thin-film transistor) have been around for several years and control a large percentage of the color LCD market. Although this is the most popular color technology in use today, OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) looks like they will surpass TFT technology in the next few years.

TFTs and OLEDs can be seen in applications such as cell phones, laptop computers, and digital cameras. Video and high-resolution photos are also possible on both types.

Winner: OLEDs. OLEDs operate at temperatures as low as -40ºC (-40ºF) and as high as 85ºC (185ºF). TFTs perform poorly below -20ºC (-4ºF) and above +70ºC (158ºF).

Winner: TFT. The current size of TFTs range from 0.9 inches up to, and exceeding 19.2 inches, whereas OLEDs range from 0.5 inches to 7.7 inches (Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7). It is important to note that these sizes are not absolute. There are TFT and OLED displays that are larger than the sizes listed above, but they are not in mass production at this time.

When choosing the size of your display, keep in mind two major factors: the popularity of the size and the number of suppliers that manufacture that size. Popular displays are LCDs that are manufactured in large quantities. The greater the popularity of the display, the less likely it will be discontinued in the near future, thus the lower the cost. The greater the number of manufactures for a particular size, the lower the cost, an the easier to second source.

Winner: TFTs. Half-life is a measurement of how many hours of use before a display becomes half-as-bright as when it was first turned on. The blue in the OLED has a half-life of 14,000 hours. This does not mean the display will burn out at that point, but will only be half-as-bright as when it was first turned on. There is much research in progress to increase the number of hours.

Keep in mind that not all products require the display to be on 24/7. Many products that require batteries, such as cell phones and digital cameras, only make use of the LCD for one to two hours a day. Many of these devices will be obsolete before the display reaches 14,000 hours.

Winner: OLEDs. OLEDs are estimated to be less than 0.01 mS (milliseconds). TFT is in the neighborhood of 15 mS. That"s milliseconds. The human eye blinks every 300 to 400 milliseconds. There are 86,400,000 milliseconds in one day. The eye can barely consciously detect a difference of 15 mS but the brain can tell there"s something up.

TFTs have been around longer then OLEDs. This head start has allowed TFT manufacturers more time to dominate the market, offer more sizes and lower the cost. The OLED has a few technical set backs at this time, but as technology improves, many or all of these issues may go away.

When you read about any display nowadays, one term you can’t avoid hearing about is OLED. An Organic light-emitting diode (OLED or Organic LED) is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light in response to an electric current. This organic layer is situated between two electrodes; typically, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. The OLED pixels emit their own light at a sub-pixel level meaning they do not need an additional backlight unit like a traditional LCD display would. Each sub-pixel emits white light which is then passed through a passive colour filter to produce red, green and blue. If you want to display black you can simply turn off the sub-pixels so they omit no light.

OLEDs are used to create digital displays and have become quite widely used in the TV and Smartphone market. OLED TV’s are known for their excellent multimedia performance, with very dark blacks, fast response times and excellent per-pixel local dimming.

OLED has not however yet made any real impact in the desktop monitor market, and LCD panels are still the only real choice in this segment for now. But why is that? We will look in this article at the strengths and weaknesses of OLED technology, at the few attempts manufacturers have made to release OLED options in the desktop monitor space, and also consider whether buying a modern OLED TV would be a good alternative for a desktop monitor. We have spoken to many of the leading display manufacturers to get their thoughts and comment on this article including Acer, AOC, Philips and BenQ.

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OLED panels are well known for their excellent black depth capability. Because each pixel is individually lit, when it is told to display black it can turn fully off the pixel and therefore produce a true black. This is different to an LCD display where a backlight is shining through the LCD layer, and when black is shown the pixel has to try and block out that light behind it as best it can. The backlight unit on an LCD display Is still shining and so you get varying success of blocking that light out and creating a black image. This varies by panel technology as we’re sure you know, with VA panels for instance being much better at blocking out the light when displaying black and so producing deeper black depths than IPS or TN Film panels. Even the best VA panels cannot offer a contrast ratio any better than around 5000:1 because the backlight is still turned on and shining through the LCD panel. Some modern backlight dimming technologies such as “Full Array Local Dimming” (FALD) can help improve the active contrast ratio, which we will talk about in a moment in more detail.

With an OLED display capable of turning a pixel fully off when it displays black, this creates basically an infinite:1 contrast ratio between bright areas of the screen and black (off) areas of the screen. In high contrast scenes this produces incredible detailed and accurate pictures, as well as allowing for great shadow detail. It is also particularly beneficial in darker ambient light conditions and night time viewing.

The other major benefit of OLED being able to turn off each individual pixel fully is that it can allow excellent per-pixel local dimming for HDR (High Dynamic Range) content. This offers vastly superior performance to LCD panels and can create a “true” HDR effect. At least from a local dimming point of view.

On LCD panels any local dimming has to be done in regions or zones from the backlight. These zones vary in sizes depending on the technology used. Although keep in mind also that many monitors including all those advertised as supporting VESA DisplayHDR 400 don’t even have any local dimming capability! Anyway, on LCD panels this local dimming backlight technique can often help improve the perceived contrast ratio across the screen as a whole and allows some areas of the screen to be brightened while others are dimmed. The actual quality of this local dimming is largely impacted by the number of local dimming zones the backlight has available. Some LCD screens only have a hand full of zones, perhaps 8 or 16 for instance across what could be a pretty large display area, and the backlight is situated at the edges of the screen normally. Turning one section off can dim that area of the screen but it can only go so far towards improving the contrast ratio because the zones are so large.

Some far more expensive LCD backlight options called ‘Full Array Local Dimming’ (FALD) are available as well, but are reserved for very high end and expensive monitors at the moment. These FALD backlights will typically have hundreds of zones (e.g. 384 zones on the 27″ Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ, or 512 zones on the 35″ ultrawide Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ we’ve reviewed). Some ‘Mini LED’ backlights are also starting to appear now as well, which basically extends the number of local dimming zones further, up to over 1000 for a screen of similar size (e.g. 1152 on the forthcoming 32″ Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX and Acer Predator X32 gaming displays).

In general, the more local dimming zones the better. This allows for more finite control over the content shown on the screen, allowing the backlight to dim smaller areas while also brightening others. This can help create better local contrast ratios between different areas of the screen. “Blooming” is a problem though on all these LCD local dimming techniques. It is where there is a bright halo around an object on the screen, more than there is supposed to be. For instance you might have a small comet on a dark sky as in the simulated images above, but there may be a halo of brightness around this comet where blooming is visible. This is a result of the backlight dimming zones, where they are not small enough to only brighten the comet on its own, and instead have to brighten the full zone that it is in. In theory the more zones there are, the better, as each zone is then smaller and so can control a smaller area of screen. This blooming effect will always be an issue though on screens dimmed in this ways, until the zones get sufficiently small enough to control the content in sufficiently small areas. For LCD panels, that currently means adding more dimming zones, through Mini LED or future Micro LED backlights even. Some panel manufacturers such as Innolux are investing in development of Mini LED panels with >10,000 dimming zones, and even their ‘MegaZone’ backlight with >2 million dimming zones. These have yet to appear in any monitor though, although could represent a decent step forward when it comes to local dimming on desktop displays.

On OLED panels because each pixel is individually lit, each one can be dimmed on its own (and turned off to true black if needed). This means that for HDR content every single individual pixel can be controlled as intended, meaning not only amazing contrast ratios but also freedom from all blooming issues. This is one of the primary reasons why OLED is so popular for modern HDR console gaming and movies in the TV space. So on an Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 panel that’s the equivalent of 8.3m dimming zones!

OLEDs also have a much faster response time than an LCD which can help avoid motion blur, as well as allow support for higher refresh rates in the future. Because OLED pixels combine the light source and the color in a single diode, it can change states incredibly fast. By contrast normal LCD displays use a backlight unit to produce brightness, and tiny LCD “shutters” to create color and control that light output. While the backlight brightness can be changed in a near instant, LCD pixels are by their nature slower to respond to state changes. Using “overdrive” technologies, the fastest modern LCD’s can reach response times around 1ms G2G in the best case without introducing a lot of overshoot artefacts in doing so. If you’re read some of our reviews you will realise though that this is really the “best case” response time, and on average the response times will be slower. Somewhere around 3 – 5ms G2G is a fairly good result for an overall LCD panel at the moment. According to LG, OLED response times are up to 1,000 times faster than LCD, putting conservative estimates at under 10 μs (0.01 ms), although some of their modern TV’s such as the new LG CX48 are advertised with a more conservative (but likely realistic overall) “1ms” figure.

Having super-fast response times isn’t the whole picture though when it comes to motion clarity and gaming performance. OLED displays are still subject to the perceived motion blur the human eye sees from a sample-and-hold display like this (something talked about more in our article here). While response times are important to ensure solid performance, it is the displays refresh rate that has a more direct impact on the motion blur you experience and see on these kind of screens. A 60Hz OLED display with 0.01ms response times will still look more blurry and with much poorer motion clarity than a 120Hz LCD display with say 5ms G2G response times. The response times need to be consistently and reliably fast enough to keep up with the refresh rate and frame rate demands, but it’s the refresh rate that really has the more significant impact on motion clarity and gaming experience. You can see some of our motion clarity measurements of the LG CX OLED display in our review for instance at both 60Hz and 120Hz to see what a difference the refresh rate makes.

On current LCD panels a good, consistent overall response time performance would be around 3 – 5ms G2G, without introducing lots of nasty overshoot or other problems. That’s fast enough to accommodate refresh rates of around 200 – 330Hz. The higher you get, the more you are in to the realms of diminishing returns, but there are still benefits of reaching higher refresh rates as long as the panels and response times can keep up. Our friends over at Blurbusters will talk about the inspirational “retina refresh rates” of 1000Hz for instance, which they would consider to offer excellent motion clarity. LCD displays with their current response times cannot accommodate 1000Hz unless response times could be consistently and reliably 1ms G2G overall. While certainly nowhere near being necessary or available at the moment, OLED’s super-low pixel transition time of 0.01ms could theoretically accommodate refresh frequencies approaching 100 kHz (100,000 Hz) if ever produced. So this is a technology more capable of reaching to those heights in the future.

Due to their extremely fast response time, OLED displays can also be easily designed to include a motion blur reduction backlight, with strobing to avoid the sample-and-hold behaviour seen on both LCD’s and some OLED displays, which creates the perception of motion blur. The fast response times help ensure effective blur reduction when these strobed backlights are added. We explored this concept in a lot more detail in our article talking about motion blur reduction backlights for those interested in learning more. We were very impressed by the performance of the motion blur reduction backlight (BFI mode) on the LG CX OLED when we tested it.

Because an OLED panel does not need an added backlight unit, they can be thinner and lighter than LCD counterparts, offering potentially sleeker and slimmer screens for wall-mounting and generally improved aesthetics.

OLED TVs can be viewed with no luminance degradation at drastic viewing angles, up to ~84 degrees. This is a lot higher than LCD displays which show more noticeable luminance degradation from an angle, although this does vary by panel technology of course. For LCD panels IPS technology can show pretty wide viewing angles, with VA technology being a little more restrictive and TN Film being a lot more restrictive.

Because OLED pixels are individually lit, it is not as easy to make them as bright as an LCD display where a large backlight unit can shine through the panel. You also need to keep in mind the potential impacts to lifespan and image retention discussed below when it comes to brightness levels. As a result, OLED panels struggle with peak brightness relative to LCD displays. For example Samsung claims its QLED TV range (Quantum Dot LED displays with a traditional backlight unit) can deliver brightness levels of 1,000 – 2,000 cd/m2 and colour reproduction of more than 100 percent of DCI-P3 reference, which is the colour standard used by Hollywood films. Samsung has also been keen to promote the concept of colour volume, which is a combination of a display’s peak brightness and its colour reproduction. The reason for this is that QLED’s inherent brightness results in a larger colour volume when compared to OLED, which struggles to reach even 800 cd/m2of peak brightness. As an example one of LG’s latest OLED TV’s (the 2020 CX OLED) was tested by Flatpanelshd.com and reached 744 cd/m2 peak brightness in HDR, one which we later tested ourselves and achieved 772 cd/m2.

You can also see how this brightness comparison plays out by looking at VESA’s ‘DisplayHDR’ certification levels, which are separated and distinguished by the peak brightness level. They have certification levels for LCD displays that offer peak brightness support of up to 1400 cd/m2 (DisplayHDR 1400 level) but for future