use smartphone lcd as tft display manufacturer

In the era of touchscreen smartphones, TFT LCD display technology has become one of the unique features and primary selling points. Consumers’ device needs and requirements have evolved along with the continuous innovations in technology. Aside from unique features (i.e., touchscreens, crisp text, blur-free video, vibrant images), more and more people now demand mobile devices at low cost. Now, how is this possible?

There are several options available in the market. Here, we’ve rounded up all the things you need to know about TFT LCD module so you’ll know what to look out for on your mobile hunt.

TFT module is suitable for a variety of applications, such as smartphones, game consoles, and navigation systems, among others. It has a low power draw when showing colors, making it easier to see displayed images outdoors.

TFT Display is the most common display technology for mobile phones. TFT LCD enhances image quality, offering better image quality and higher image resolutions compared to earlier LCD display generation.

TFT module is offered in a standard display, resistive touch, and capacitive touch versions. It also comes in a variety of sizes. Mobile devices with TFT LCD display have a full-color RGB mode that showcases rich colors, detailed images, and bright graphics.

This type of touchscreen LCD display module contains two layers of conductive material with a small gap that acts as resistance. Here’s what happens when an object touches the resistive touch screen:

This type relies on sense conductivity to register a touch. This is generally more responsive than resistive touch screen since it doesn’t rely on pressure. However, this fact also limits the number of touch objects. Only an object with conductive properties, such as your fingertip or a stylus, can be sensed by the touchscreen.

It is undeniable that LCD display technology has significantly made its way in our daily lives. Aside from mobile devices, TFT LCD screens are now also being used with computer monitors, television screens, game devices, and more.

Smartphones are getting wider screens and richer colors, thanks to improvements in LCD and related screen technologies. Subsequently, smartphone makers are competing to provide the best screens with realistic images and videos and the latest high-tech functions. While newer screen displays such as AMOLED and OLED offer higher contrast ratio which results in darker blacks, LCD module displays provide distinct advantages too. Here are the reasons why smartphone makers continue to prefer LCD modules over other alternatives.

LCD module display due to its flexibility. They are used for HD resolution as well as lower resolution properties, thereby, diversifying the products that can be offered to various market segments. Furthermore, an LCD screen or display panel can be curved or flat. And they can include or support different phone features such as ambient light and sensors. LCD can also come in different sizes and provide screens for smaller phones to tablets and wider-screened mobile communication devices. Its durability, despite differences in sizes and numerous functions, is also well-tested which is why it has been the module of choice for both large and small smartphone manufacturers for the past ten years.

Besides flexibility in function and sizes, LCD displays are cheaper compared to OLED and AMOLED modules. LCDs are produced in a cost-efficient manner which enables smartphone makers to offer competitive prices. Price is an important factor especially when a survey noted that majority of its respondents consider the price when making purchasing decisions, apart from screen size and battery life. Most consumers would choose an affordable smartphone over expensive ones regardless of brand. Presently, AMOLED and OLED screens have increased phone prices as can be seen from this article on the iPhone 8 where its price is 50 to 60 percent higher than past LCD models due to the shift from LCD to OLED screens. Choosing LCD over other modules can maintain an attractive price range for price-conscious buyers.

The quest for wide-screened smartphones with rich colors is a continuing process although the boundaries of price-sensitivity for buyers have remained tight. Smartphone makers will continue using LCD modules that offer sufficient flexibility for technological innovations without creating a large dent on final prices. Until alternatives offer the same competitive pricing, large and small smartphone companies will continue choosing LCD modules over expensive counterparts.

When the frame rate is 16 FPS, the human eye will think that the image is coherent, and a higher frame rate can get smoother and more realistic animation. Generally, 25 to 30 FPS is acceptable, but increasing the frame rate to 60 FPS can significantly improve the sense of interaction and realism.

Therefore, the refresh rate of the screen must be greater than the frame rate of the video. Otherwise, the video is played to the next frame, and the screen has not been refreshed, and the user experience is naturally not good if it stays on the content of the previous frame.

At present, most video frame rates are less than 60FPS, so the refresh rate of the mobile phone screen should not be less than 60Hz. In theory, the higher the refresh rate, the more delicate and smooth the screen display and operation, so many flagship phones currently use 90Hz or even 120Hz refresh rates.

If we look at the mobile phone posters, we can find that there are many different terms about screen materials and technologies: TFT LCD, TFT, IPS, LTPS, OLED, AMOLED, etc., which are dazzling.

In LCD technology, although the word “liquid crystal” is very conspicuous, the liquid crystal does not emit light. A backplane composed of LEDs (light-emitting diodes) is needed to provide a white light source, also called “Backlight”.

On the basis of the backlight for each pixel, a layer of red, green, and blue films is added. White light passing through these films becomes colored light of red, green, and blue.

At this time, it is the turn of the liquid crystal material to appear. Liquid crystal has a characteristic, that is, under the action of an electric field, its molecular arrangement will change, which will affect the permeability of light. Changing the voltage can adjust the amount of light transmitted.

For LCD screens, the liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the backlight and the film adjusts the passable light by adjusting the input voltage. After passing through the colored film, the three primary colors of light with different intensities can be obtained. After mixing, thousands of colors will be obtained.

The so-called TFT (Thin-film transistor) refers to the thin film transistor array on the glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel, which allows each pixel of the LCD to be equipped with its own semiconductor switch, thereby achieving independent and precise control of “point-to-point”.

Therefore, the main LCD screen is also called a TFT-LCD. However, IPS and LTPS are actually implemented by different technologies under TFT-LCD, so we won’t repeat them here.

The structure of the OLED screen is much simpler than that of the LCD. It does not require a backlight, nor does it have a liquid crystal or color filter film. The internal organic material coating is like a small colored light bulb, which can emit light when it is powered on.

AMOLED: Everyone already knows about OLED. The previous AM refers to the driving method of OLED. Its full name is Active Matrix. TFT is usually used as a switch to control the current through organic materials to achieve different colors. All OLEDs currently used in mobile phones are AMOLED, so it can be considered that the two are the same thing.

Dynamic AMOLED: It is also the AMOLED improved technology launched by Samsung, currently mainly used in high-end devices. This technology changes the organic materials in OLEDs and is said to achieve a wider dynamic range. When the image contrast is high, it can display more dark details.

Because the liquid crystal layer cannot be completely closed, some backlight will always pass through, so the LCD cannot display pure black, only dark grey. And OLED can realize a pure black display by controlling the switch of each pixel.

The backlight of the LCD screen can easily leak from the screen and the frame of the mobile phone to form a light leakage phenomenon. This phenomenon is very common in the era of rough mobile phone workmanship, and it is rarely seen now.

LCD is limited by the backlight layer and liquid crystal layer due to its complex technology, and the screen thickness is much larger than that of OLED. Of course, this thickness is not worth mentioning on the TV, but in the mobile phone, where the pursuit of slimness and extremely limited internal space, the screen is thinner, and more other components can be plugged in to improve other performance.

Since the LCD screen has a backlight, it must be fully lit when in use, and OLED can individually control the switch of each pixel, so the power consumption of the LCD screen is much greater than that of OLED. In the picture below, Smartisan R1 and Xiaomi mix2s are both LCD screens, and battery life is obviously at a disadvantage under long-term video play.

Due to the long response time of the LCD screen, smear will occur when the screen slides quickly. The OLED responds quickly, clean, and without smear.

Because the organic material used in the OLED screen will be aging faster if there is a large pixel workload, some are relatively idle, there will be an inconsistent degree of aging of the entire screen, resulting in different areas of color display deviation. This phenomenon is called burning the screen.

Burn-in is the shortcoming of the OLED screen. For LCD, the backlight is fully lit, and the aging time of LCD is longer, so there is basically no problem of burn-in.

For LCD, to control the screen brightness, you can directly adjust the brightness of the backlight. But OLED is more troublesome. It needs to switch the screen at high frequency to achieve dimming. If you want to brighten, you turn on the screen more times, and if you want to dim, you turn off the screen more times.

For example, to achieve a brightness of 50%, it takes half the time to turn on the screen and half the time to turn off the screen. At a lower brightness, it takes longer to turn off the screen. The screen flashes once and again, and it can even be visible to the naked eye，then the eyes will be very uncomfortable.

This phenomenon of OLED is called a strobe, hence the name “eye-damaging screen”. In contrast, LCD screens generously call themselves “eye protection screens.”

Although there are shortcomings, the shortcomings do not conceal the advantages. At present, the OLED display has entered the mainstream and gradually occupies the market space of LCD display. This is especially obvious in high-end mobile phones.

Steven Van Slyke and Ching Wan Tang pioneered the organic OLED at Eastman Kodak in 1979. The first OLED product was a display for a car stereo, commercialized by Pioneer in 1997. Kodak’s EasyShare LS633 digital camera, introduced in 2003, was the first consumer electronic product incorporating a full-color OLED display. The first television featuring an OLED display, produced by Sony, entered the market in 2008. Today, Samsung uses OLEDs in all of its smartphones, and LG manufactures large OLED screens for premium TVs. Other companies currently incorporating OLED technology include Apple, Google, Facebook, Motorola, Sony, HP, Panasonic, Konica, Lenovo, Huawei, BOE, Philips and Osram. The OLED display market is expected to grow to $57 billion in 2026.

AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED is a type of display technology in which organic material compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix is the technology behind the addressing of individual pixels.

An AMOLED display consists of an active matrix of OLED pixels generating light (luminescence) upon electrical activation that have been deposited or integrated onto a thin-film transistor (TFT) array, which functions as a series of switches to control the current flowing to each individual pixel.

Typically, this continuous current flow is controlled by at least two TFTs at each pixel (to trigger the luminescence), with one TFT to start and stop the charging of a storage capacitor and the second to provide a voltage source at the level needed to create a constant current to the pixel, thereby eliminating the need for the very high currents required for PMOLED.

TFT backplane technology is crucial in the fabrication of AMOLED displays. In AMOLEDs, the two primary TFT backplane technologies, polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si), are currently used offering the potential for directly fabricating the active-matrix backplanes at low temperatures (below 150 °C) onto flexible plastic substrates for producing flexible AMOLED displays. Brightness of AMOLED is determined by the strength of the electron current. The colors are controlled by the red, green and blue light emitting diodes.  It is easier to understand by thinking of each pixel is independently colored, mini-LED.

IPS technology is like an improvement on the traditional TFT LCD display module in the sense that it has the same basic structure, but with more enhanced features and more widespread usability compared with the older generation of TN type TFT screen (normally used for low-cost computer monitors). Actually, it is called super TFT.  IPS LCD display consists of the following high-end features. It has much wider viewing angles, more consistent, better color in all viewing directions, it has higher contrast, faster response time. But IPS screens are not perfect as their higher manufacturing cost compared with TN TFT LCD.

Utilizing an electrical charge that causes the liquid crystal material to change their molecular structure allowing various wavelengths of backlight to “pass-through”. The active matrix of the TFT display is in constant flux and changes or refreshes rapidly depending upon the incoming signal from the control device.

Thanks for the display technology development, we have a lot of display choices for our smartphones, media players, TVs, laptops, tablets, digital cameras, and other such gadgets. The most display technologies we hear are LCD, TFT, OLED, LED, QLED, QNED, MicroLED, Mini LED etc. The following, we will focus on two of the most popular display technologies in the market: TFT Displays and Super AMOLED Displays.

TFT means Thin-Film Transistor. TFT is the variant of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). There are several types of TFT displays: TN (Twisted Nematic) based TFT display, IPS (In-Plane Switching) displays. As the former can’t compete with Super AMOLED in display quality, we will mainly focus on using IPS TFT displays.

OLED means Organic Light-Emitting Diode. There are also several types of OLED, PMOLED (Passive Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) and AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode). It is the same reason that PMOLED can’t compete with IPS TFT displays. We pick the best in OLED displays: Super AMOLED to compete with the LCD best: IPS TFT Display.

If you have any questions about Orient Display displays and touch panels. Please feel free to contact: Sales Inquiries, Customer Service or Technical Support.

In recent years, smartphone displays have developed far more acronyms than ever before with each different one featuring a different kind of technology. AMOLED, LCD, LED, IPS, TFT, PLS, LTPS, LTPO...the list continues to grow.

As if the different available technologies weren"t enough, component and smartphone manufacturers adopt more and more glorified names like "Super Retina XDR" and "Dynamic AMOLED", which end up increasing the potential for confusion among consumers. So let"s take a look at some of these terms used in smartphone specification sheets and decipher them.

There are many display types used in smartphones: LCD, OLED, AMOLED, Super AMOLED, TFT, IPS and a few others that are less frequently found on smartphones nowadays, like TFT-LCD. One of the most frequently found on mid-to-high range phones now is IPS-LCD. But what do these all mean?

LCD means Liquid Crystal Display, and its name refers to the array of liquid crystals illuminated by a backlight, and their ubiquity and relatively low cost make them a popular choice for smartphones and many other devices.

LCDs also tend to perform quite well in direct sunlight, as the entire display is illuminated from behind, but does suffer from potentially less accurate colour representation than displays that don"t require a backlight.

Within smartphones, you have both TFT and IPS displays. TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor, an advanced version of LCD that uses an active matrix (like the AM in AMOLED). Active matrix means that each pixel is attached to a transistor and capacitor individually.

The main advantage of TFT is its relatively low production cost and increased contrast when compared to traditional LCDs. The disadvantage of TFT LCDs is higher energy demands than some other LCDs, less impressive viewing angles and colour reproduction. It"s for these reasons, and falling costs of alternative options, that TFTs are not commonly used in smartphones anymore.Affiliate offer

IPS technology (In-Plane Switching) solves the problem that the first generation of LCD displays experience, which adopts the TN (Twisted Nematic) technique: where colour distortion occurs when you view the display from the side - an effect that continues to crop up on cheaper smartphones and tablets.

The PLS (Plane to Line Switching) standard uses an acronym that is very similar to that of IPS, and is it any wonder that its basic operation is also similar in nature? The technology, developed by Samsung Display, has the same characteristics as IPS displays - good colour reproduction and viewing angles, but a lower contrast level compared to OLED and LCD/VA displays.

According to Samsung Display, PLS panels have a lower production cost, higher brightness rates, and even superior viewing angles when compared to their rival, LG Display"s IPS panels. Ultimately, whether a PLS or IPS panel is used, it boils down to the choice of the component supplier.

This is a very common question after "LED" TVs were launched, with the short answer simply being LCD. The technology used in a LED display is liquid crystal, the difference being LEDs generating the backlight.

One of the highlights from TV makers at the CES 2021 tradeshow, mini-LED technology seemed far removed from mobile devices until Apple announced the 2021 iPad Pro. As the name implies, the technique is based on the miniaturization of the LEDs that form the backlight of the screen — which still uses an LCD panel.

Despite the improvement in terms of contrast (and potentially brightness) over traditional LCD/LED displays, LCD/mini-LEDs still divide the screen into brightness zones — over 2,500 in the case of the iPad and 2021 "QNED" TVs from LG — compared to dozens or hundreds of zones in previous-generation FALD (full-array local dimming) displays, on which the LEDs are behind the LCD panel instead of the edges.

However, for even greater contrast control, done individually at each point on the screen, it is necessary to go to panels equipped with microLED technologies – still cost-prohibitive in 2021 – or OLED, which until recently were manufactured on a large scale only in sizes for smartphones or televisions.Affiliate offer

AMOLED stands for Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. While this may sound complicated it actually isn"t. We already encountered the active matrix in TFT LCD technology, and OLED is simply a term for another thin-film display technology.

OLED is an organic material that, as the name implies, emits light when a current is passed through it. As opposed to LCD panels, which are back-lit, OLED displays are "always off" unless the individual pixels are electrified.

This means that OLED displays have much purer blacks and consume less energy when black or darker colours are displayed on-screen. However, lighter-coloured themes on AMOLED screens use considerably more power than an LCD using the same theme. OLED screens are also more expensive to produce than LCDs.

Because the black pixels are "off" in an OLED display, the contrast ratios are also higher compared to LCD screens. AMOLED displays have a very fast refresh rate too, but on the downside are not quite as visible in direct sunlight as backlit LCDs. Screen burn-in and diode degradation (because they are organic) are other factors to consider.Affiliate offer

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. An OLED display is comprised of thin sheets of electroluminescent material, the main benefit of which is they produce their own light, and so don"t require a backlight, cutting down on energy requirements. OLED displays are more commonly referred to as AMOLED displays when used on smartphones or TVs.

As we"ve already covered, the AM part of AMOLED stands for Active Matrix, which is different from a Passive Matrix OLED (P-OLED), though these are less common in smartphones.

Super AMOLED is the name given by Samsung to its displays that used to only be found in high-end models but have now trickled down to more modestly specced devices. Like IPS LCDs, Super AMOLED improves upon the basic AMOLED premise by integrating the touch response layer into the display itself, rather than as an extra layer on top.

As a result, Super AMOLED displays handle sunlight better than AMOLED displays and also require less power. As the name implies, Super AMOLED is simply a better version of AMOLED. It"s not all just marketing bluster either: Samsung"s displays are regularly reviewed as some of the best around.

The latest evolution of the technology has been christened "Dynamic AMOLED". Samsung didn"t go into detail about what the term means, but highlighted that panels with such identification include HDR10+ certification that supports a wider range of contrast and colours, as well as blue light reduction for improved visual comfort.

In the same vein, the term "Fluid AMOLED" used by OnePlus on its most advanced devices basically highlights the high refresh rates employed, which results in more fluid animations on the screen.Affiliate offer

The technology debuted with the obscure Royole FlexPai, equipped with an OLED panel supplied by China"s BOE, and was then used in the Huawei Mate X (pictured above) and the Motorola Razr (2019), where both also sport BOE"s panel - and the Galaxy Flip and Fold lines, using the component supplied by Samsung Display.Affiliate offer

Resolution describes the number of individual pixels (or points) displayed on the screen and is usually presented for phones by the number of horizontal pixels — vertical when referring to TVs and monitors. More pixels on the same display allow for more detailed images and clearer text.

To make it easier to compare different models, brands usually adopt the same naming scheme made popular by the TV market with terms like HD, FullHD and UltraHD. But with phones adopting a wide range of different screen proportions, just knowing that is not enough to know the total pixels displayed on the screen.Common phone resolutions

But resolution in itself is not a good measure for image clarity, for that we need to consider the display size, resulting in the pixel density by area measured by DPI/PPI (dots/points per inch).Affiliate offer

Speaking of pixel density, this was one of Apple"s highlights back in 2010 during the launch of the iPhone 4. The company christened the LCD screen (LED, TFT, and IPS) used in the smartphone as "Retina Display", thanks to the high resolution of the panel used (960 by 640 pixels back then) in its 3.5-inch display.

The name coined by Apple"s marketing department is applied to screens which, according to the company, the human eye is unable to discern the individual pixels from a normal viewing distance. In the case of iPhones, the term was applied to displays with a pixel density that is greater than 300 ppi (dots per inch).

Since then, other manufacturers have followed suit, adopting panels with increasingly higher resolutions. While the iPhone 12 mini offers 476 dpi, models like Sony Xperia 1 boast a whopping 643 dpi.

With the iPhone 11 Pro, another term was introduced to the equation: "Super Retina XDR". Still using an OLED panel (that is supplied by Samsung Display or LG Display), the smartphone brings even higher specs in terms of contrast - with a 2,000,000:1 ratio and brightness level of 1,200 nits, which have been specially optimized for displaying content in HDR format.

As a kind of consolation prize for iPhone XR and iPhone 11 buyers, who continued relying on LCD panels, Apple classified the display used in the smartphones with a new term, "Liquid Retina". This was later applied also to the iPad Pro and iPad Air models, with the name defining screens that boast a high range and colour accuracy, at least based on the company"s standards.

Nit, or candela per square meter in the international system (cd/m²), is a unit of measurement of luminance, i.e. the intensity of light emitted. In the case of smartphone screens and monitors in general, such a value defines just how bright the display is - the higher the value, the more intense the light emitted by the screen.

The result is smoother animations on the phone, both during regular use and in games, compared to screens that have a 60 Hz refresh rate which remains the standard rate in the market when it comes to displays.

Originally touted to be a "gimmick" in 2017, with the launch of the Razer Phone, the feature gained more and more momentum in due time, even with a corresponding decrease in battery life. In order to make the most of this feature, manufacturers began to adopt screens with variable refresh rates, which can be adjusted according to the content displayed - which is 24 fps in most movies, 30 or 60 fps in home video recordings, and so forth.

The same unit of measurement is used for the sampling rate. Although similar, the value here represents the number of times per second the screen is able to register touches. The higher the sample rate, the faster the smartphone registers such touches, which results in a faster response time.

To further muddy the alphabet soup that we"ve come across, you will also run into other less common terms that are often highlighted in promotional materials for smartphones.

TFT(Thin Film Transistor) - a type of LCD display that adopts a thin semiconductor layer deposited on the panel, which allows for active control of the colour intensity in each pixel, featuring a similar concept as that of active-matrix (AM) used in AMOLED displays. It is used in TN, IPS/PLS, VA/PVA/MVA panels, etc.

LTPS(Low Temperature PolySilicon) - a variation of the TFT that offers higher resolutions and lower power consumption compared to traditional TFT screens, based on a-Si (amorphous silicon) technology.

IGZO(Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) - a semiconductor material used in TFT films, which also allows higher resolutions and lower power consumption, and sees action in different types of LCD screens (TN, IPS, VA) and OLED displays

LTPO(Low Temperature Polycrystaline Oxide) - a technology developed by Apple that can be used in both OLED and LCD displays, as it combines LTPS and IGZO techniques. The result? Lower power consumption. It has been used in the Apple Watch 4 and the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

LTPO allows the display to adjust its refresh rate, adapting dynamically to the content shown. Scrolling pages can trigger the fastest mode for a fluid viewing, while displaying a static image allows the phone to use a lower refresh rate, saving the battery.

Among televisions, the long-standing featured technology has always been miniLED - which consists of increasing the number of lighting zones in the backlight while still using an LCD panel. There are whispers going around that smartphones and smartwatches will be looking at incorporating microLED technology in their devices soon, with it being radically different from LCD/LED displays as it sports similar image characteristics to that of OLEDs.

A microLED display has one light-emitting diode for each subpixel of the screen - usually a set of red, green, and blue diodes for each dot. Chances are it will use a kind of inorganic material such as gallium nitride (GaN).

By adopting a self-emitting light technology, microLED displays do not require the use of a backlight, with each pixel being "turned off" individually. The result is impressive: your eyes see the same level of contrast as OLED displays, without suffering from the risk of image retention or burn-in of organic diodes.

On the other hand, the use of multiple diodes for each pixel poses a challenge in terms of component miniaturization. For example, a Full HD resolution has just over two million pixels (1,920 x 1,080 dots), which requires 6 million microscopic LEDs using a traditional RGB (red, green, and blue) structure.

This is one of the reasons that explain the adoption of such technology to date remains rather limited in scope. You will see them mainly in large screens of 75 to 150 inches only, which enable 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160 resolution, which is close to 8.3 million pixels or 24.8 million RGB subpixels). This is a huge number of pixels to look at!

Another thing to be wary of is the price - at 170 million Korean won (about US$150,330 after conversion), that is certainly a lot of money to cough up for a 110-inch display.

Each technology has its own advantages and disadvantages but in recent years, OLED screens have gained prominence, especially with the adoption of the component in high-end flagship smartphones. It gained an even greater degree of popularity after the launch of the iPhone X, which cemented the position of OLED panels in the premium segment.

As previously stated, OLED/AMOLED screens have the advantage of a varied contrast level, resulting from individual brightness control for the pixels. Another result of this is the more realistic reproduction of black, as well as low power consumption when the screen shows off dark images - which has also helped to popularize dark modes on smartphones.

In addition, the organic diodes that give OLED screens their name can lose their ability to change their properties over time, and this happens when the same image is displayed for a long period of time. This problem is known as "burn-in", tends to manifest itself when higher brightness settings are applied for long periods of time.

While that is a very real possibility, it is not something that affects most users, who often confuse burn-in with a similar problem - image retention, which is temporary and usually resolves itself after a few minutes.

In the case of LCD displays, the main advantage lies in the low manufacturing cost, with dozens of players in the market offering competitive pricing and a high production volume. Some brands have taken advantage of this feature to prioritize certain features - such as a higher refresh rate - instead of adopting an OLED panel, such as the Xiaomi Mi 10T.

The new line of 3.5” TFT displays with IPS technology is now available! Three touchscreen options are available: capacitive, resistive, or without a touchscreen.

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With such a huge range of smartphone hardware on the market today from vendors such as Samsung, HTC, Apple, Motorola, LG and more, it can be very confusing to keep up with what exactly is inside each of these devices. There are at least 10 different CPUs inside smartphones, many different GPUs, a seemingly endless combination of display hardware and a huge variety of other bits and bobs.

This multi-part guide is intended to help you understand each and every one of the critical components in your smartphone and how they compare to other hardware on the market. Each section is intended to give you all the necessary information about the hardware, and even more for the tech enthusiasts out there, so expect them all to be lengthy and filled with details.

Over the next several days and weeks we’ll be posting up another part of the guide. In today’s guide I’ll be looking at displays, and the different technologies that are used to make viewing and using your smartphone pleasurable.

When it comes to smartphone displays, there are two main types that are utilized; the first of which is LCD. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, and while I"m not going to go into the complex designs of LCD panel circuits and exactly how they work, I"ll explain the different parts of an LCD display and exactly what the crystals do.

There are four main layers to an LCD panel: there"s the outer protective layer, the polarizing layer (or layers), the liquid crystal layer and the backlight. The outer protective layer is basically there to protect the other components from getting damaged, and it"s usually made of clear plastic or glass. The polarizing layers help the crystal layer deliver the correct light, or no light when off or black, to your eyes.

The most important part is the liquid crystal layer, which is what controls the colors passed through and ultimately the picture displayed. When an electrical current is passed through the crystalline layer, liquid crystal cells coupled with filters of red, blue and green, corresponding to the subpixels in the display, "twist" to let backlight through at different intensities. The crystals filter the neutral back light into certain color intensities, and combined with neighboring crystals of different colors, the full range of millions of colors is created.

The backlighting layer is almost always LED backlight, and while there are different types of LED backlighting the one used almost always is white LED backlighting. This is where thin and solid white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are placed behind the liquid crystal layer to provide a base light for the crystals to modify. RGB LED backlighting also exists which allows for better color reproduction, but this is more expensive and seldom used in smartphones (as far as I know).

LCDs that are used in smartphones are all active matrix, which refers to the way the pixels are addressed, and they are all also used TFT technology. TFT basically means thin-film transistor and its these components that help with more accurate color reproduction, contrast and responsiveness. Underneath the TFT banner there are a two different types you can get.

Twisted Nematic is a term that is rarely used by smartphone manufacturers, instead preferring to call their displays simply "TFT LCD". It refers to the method in which crystal cells are twisted in the display to reproduce the colors, and is most commonly used in cheaper smartphone displays due to their ease of production.

Compared to the other type of LCD, In-Plane Switching (IPS), TN LCD panels have more limited viewing angles, contrast and color reproduction, hence why they are generally used in cheaper devices. That said, your computer monitor or (older) LCD TV is most likely going to be using a TN panel, so they are not always bad, just there is better technology out there.

The best type of TN LCD panel available is the Sony/Samsung-made Super LCD, or S-LCD, which has considerably better contrast levels and color reproduction compared to standard TN panels. These types of displays started appearing in the HTC Desire as a replacement for AMOLEDs when supply was short, and has since been superseded by Super LCD 2 displays.

IPS LCD panels use a more organized method of crystal cell twisting, which allows for a better quality picture and so it"s the preferred type of display for higher end smartphones. The main advantages over TN panels is significantly better viewing angles and truer color reproduction because the way the panel works reduces off-angle color shift. Modern generation IPS panels also feature much better contrast ratios than TN panels, which makes them (in some instances) comparable with AMOLED technology.

Most IPS panels used in smartphones are technically either Super IPS (S-IPS) or Advanced Super IPS (AS-IPS), and in some cases proprietary technology that improves on different aspects of IPS panels. Occasionally smartphone manufacturers will designate their panels as "IPS LCD" or "TFT IPS LCD", but in other cases they will use a brand name such as those listed below.

Retina- The term used for Apple"s LG-manufactured IPS LCD panels with high pixel densities (more on that later), used since the iPhone 4 and 3rd-gen iPad.

Super LCD 2 -The second-generation of S-LCD panels made by Sony that switch from using TN to IPS technology. They have phenomenal color reproduction, great contrast, brightness and viewing angles due to reducing the size and spacing of the component layers, and are arguably the best displays available.

Where LCD panels are made from a variety of different layers that all work in harmony to produce a picture, with AMOLED displays it"s much simpler. AMOLED stands for Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode, as the name hints, the display actually emits colors directly from organic diodes rather than needing polarizing filters, crystals or backlights. As such, there are a number of benefits over LCD technology.

The way an AMOLED display works is very simple: there is a lower transistor layer that controls the power going to the organic upper layer; when power is applied to the organic diodes they emit light, the color of which corresponds to the molecular structure of the diode. The intensity of the light can be varied by the power sent by the transistors, which in turn allows millions of colors just like the twisting of liquid crystals in LCDs.

As the diodes themselves emit light, they don"t require any sort of backlight for the filtering of colors. This helps not only save power, but it also slims down the display considerably, which is a bonus for phones that are pushing to be the slimmest on the market. Furthermore, the lack of a persistent backlight allows high contrast ratios, because to display black the organic diodes simply switch off and show nothing.

Of course there are some downsides to AMOLED displays. As the usual red, green and blue subpixels are used to create the full gamut of colors, different organic compounds must be used to provide each of the three colors. The properties for each of these compounds varies significantly, and so it"s very hard to get each diode emitting the same intensity of light at full power with the correct wavelength.

This leads to a number of problems. If one color of diode is too intense it can tint the display slightly; usually the blue diodes are the culprit which is why white webpages can often look somewhat blue. Also, while AMOLEDs are very vibrant due to the diode intensity, color reproduction is not as accurate as IPS LCDs, again due to the problems getting all colors on an even playing field.

The final problem is the lifespan of the different diode types: as each color is a different organic compound, they will only "live" (or emit light) for so long, and this length varies for different colors. In early AMOLED displays it was known that the blue diodes died around twice as fast as the green diodes, however in recent display types the technology has evolved to make this less of an issue. Hopefully the color accuracy issues will also be improved as the technology evolves.

Super AMOLED- The first-generation Samsung-made panel that integrates the touchscreen digitizer into the display while providing better outdoor readability

HD Super AMOLED -Again the "Super" denotes a Samsung panel with an integrated digitizer, and the lack of "Plus" means it has a PenTile matrix. The HD simply means it has a HD resolution with good pixel density

ClearBlack AMOLED -Used by Nokia, this is an AMOLED panel that uses a "ClearBlack" coated with an anti-glare polarizer that helps outdoor readability.

Since the inclusion of the notorious "PenTile" subpixel matrix in smartphone displays there has been a lot of media talk over how this particular matrix is worse than the traditional "RGB stripe". Sure, it"s great to say the PenTile matrix is bad, but I"ve seen few sites actually go on to explain whythis particular matrix delivers an inferior experience. That"s what this section is about.

As many tech-savvy readers would know, to produce a picture a display uses a composite of pixels; each pixel ideally being able to produce every color. However as far as we know, there is no single material that allows for the production of every single color, so we cheat and use a combination of smaller fixed-color subpixels (that are too small to see) at different intensity levels to deliver color.

Almost all computer displays use red, green and blue colored subpixels, which are added together using the RGB color model to deliver a huge amount of composite colors. Each subpixel should be capable of 256 color intensity levels, where 0 has the subpixel "off", ~128 is the color half-on and 255 is full intensity. As there are three colored subpixels all capable of 256 levels, this multiplies together to give 16,777,216 possible colors per pixel.

As to produce these 16.78 million colors you need one of each of the three RGB subpixels, the preferred method is to have all three of these arranged in a square, and this square becomes a pixel. This is known as the "RGB stripe" method, and it"s pretty much universally used across LCD monitors as it provides the most accurate color reproduction and the highest level of clarity.

With AMOLED displays as I mentioned above there are some issues with the technology that must be overcome such as the inconsistencies between the different subpixel intensities and lifespans. There is also another issue: it"s currently much harder to produce a high-density AMOLED display at a reasonable price because the technology to create extremely small subpixels isn"t there yet, whereas with LCDs, producing tiny subpixels is much cheaper and easier.

This is a PenTile subpixel matrix; note that a single, square pixel has a green subpixel but alternating red/blue subpixels. | Image: Matthew Rollings

Due to the optics of the human eye and its different sensitivities to different wavelengths of light, a PenTile matrix display is still capable of delivering effectively the same colors as the traditional RGB stripe using special subpixel rendering. As it uses fewer subpixels per pixel, this also allows the display to be more dense than if it were created using the RGB stripe method, and in some situations it uses less power. Finally, due to there being fewer blue subpixels, the display should last longer than a traditional layout AMOLED using the same organic blue-light-emitting diode.

Of course people who complain about PenTile matrices do have a point. The fact that there is only two subpixels per pixel technically reduces the subpixel resolution of the display: for example a 1280x720 display using the RGB stripe layout has 2.76 million subpixels whereas a 720p PenTile display has just 1.84 million subpixels; 0.92 million fewer. Most of the time subpixel rendering compensates for this, but in certain situations the difference is noticeable.

On hard edges, such as crisp text or the edge of an interface element, the PenTile matrix sometimes has to "borrow" subpixels from other pixels to form a picture that is the correct color. This is most noticeable when looking at the left edge of a white icon or text, where there appears to be small red dots along the edge, or along high-contrast lines, where the line either appears not crisp or - in the case of blue/red lines compared to green lines - dotty.

Generally speaking you have to get reasonably close to the display to notice these imperfections, but then again comparing a PenTile display to an RGB stripe display, the text rendering on the latter is noticeably clearer at a comfortable reading distance. The good news though is that PenTile displays are often nowadays only used on devices with a PPI density (more on that later) of 250 or above, and as you approach 300 PPI it becomes increasingly hard to notice the problems.

On devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus, which use PenTile HD Super AMOLED displays but have high pixel densities, the PenTile problem is virtually a non-issue. It would obviously be nicer to have a high-density RGB stripe AMOLED, and even Samsung acknowledges their Super AMOLED Plus displays are better, so in the future we"ll probably see technology and components improve so they can kill off the dreaded PenTile matrix.

It all started with Apple"s "Retina" display: a 3.5-inch IPS LCD panel touting a 640 x 960 resolution. At this size and resolution, the display had a pixel-per-inch (ppi) count of 326, a number seldom seen in other displays at the time and well over the magical 300 ppi rating. So, what is pixels-per-inch, and what does the magical 300 ppi mean?

Pixels-per-inch is a count of how many pixels in one dimension fit along a one inch line; that is, if you put a ruler on the screen it"s how many pixels could you count along the edge of the ruler before it reaches one inch. Due to the fact that pixels are square, it doesn"t matter whether you count vertically or horizontally to get this number, and thanks to the handy formula on the Wikipedia page for pixel density, you can work out the pixels-per-inch for any display without having to do this counting for yourself.

For a display to be good, ideally you should not be able to make out individual pixels at a reasonable distance from your eyes, leaving images and text to be presented at the highest quality and crispness. As with the print rating of 300 dpi (dots-per-inch), 300 ppi is an ideal level to achieve because at 30cm (12in) away from your eyes, the average person will not be able to see individual pixels.

At standard resolutions such as 1280 x 720 (720p HD), 960 x 540 (qHD) and 800 x 480 (WVGA), there is a limit on the diagonal size of the display that keeps the pixel density at or above 300 ppi. For 720p, displays can go up to 4.9" while still managing 300 ppi, giving a huge amount of flexibility and pretty much exceeding the comfort limits of display sizes. qHD maxes out at 3.65", and WVGA at 3.1", which are good limits for the smaller end of the spectrum.

When it comes to tablets achieving 300 ppi, it is less of an issue because you will be holding the device (in most cases) further away from your eyes, and so manufacturers should be looking for densities of 250 ppi or above. This does mean that 10.1 inch tablets will need to exceed 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) as that only gives 224 ppi; however 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) would deliver a nice 299 ppi at 10.1 inches and remains above 250 ppi right up to 12 inches. For tablets up to 8.9 inches, WUXGA will suffice.

As display technologies improve, especially in the AMOLED front, it should be possible to deliver high pixel densities in all situations. Most upcoming high-end smartphones are utilizing a high-density display, as with some mid-range devices, but it"s still definitely something to look out for in new tablets.

The final part of the whole display module in a smartphone is the all important touchscreen, otherwise and more correctly known as the touch digitizer layer. Luckily pretty much all smartphones these days (except for the really cheap and terrible ones) use capacitive touch sensors as opposed to the resistive touch sensors used in older devices; as such I"m not going to bother explaining resistive touchscreens.

The capacitive sensing digitizer layer most often uses projected capacitive touch (PCT) technology, which sees the materials used in the detection etched into the layer as a grid. This grid projects an electrostatic field when a voltage is applied, and when a human finger (which is electrically conductive) touches the area covered by this grid, the electrostatic field is altered. A controller then determines the position of the finger based on sensors and other components.

As only conductive materials can alter the electrostatic field, this is why things such as human skin work on capacitive touchscreens but cloth and plastic do not. However, depending on the strength of the field and sensors, and the fact that the field is slightly three-dimensional, it is possible to sometimes activate the touchscreen without actually touching the glass, or through thin cloth such as gloves.

The main component that delivers the electrostatic field (usually indium tin oxide) is transparent, which is why in most touchscreens it is not possible to see the capacitive electrode grid in the digitizer layer. Although, occasionally you will be able to see small dots across the face of the display when placed at a specific angle under direct light: these are small capacitors that are at the intersections of the grid which allow for mutual capacitance, which in turn provides multi-touch.

With LCD displays the touch digitizer layer is placed above the liquid crystal layer but below the final glass protecting layer, which allows you to infrequently see some of the components as mentioned above. With some AMOLED displays, specifically Super AMOLEDs by Samsung, the digitizer is actually integrated into the same layer as the organic light-emitting diodes, making it essentially invisible while consuming less space - one of the advantages of AMOLED technology.

Often the protective glass (such as Gorilla Glass), digitizer and display itself are all attached tightly together in the one panel to reduce the chance of glare and reflections while saving space. Due to this, it is near impossible to replace just one of the components if, say, the glass was broken or the digitizer stopped working. Instead, you would need to shell out more cash to replace the entire glass-digitizer-display unit, and often they are not cheap.

Sorry about the huge delay between this article and the last, but I still hope that you learnt a little bit more about what is inside your smartphone. Next time I’ll be taking a look at the connectivity chips and sensors in a smartphone, going over technologies such as Bluetooth and A-GPS along with accelerometers and gyroscopes. Check back soon for that article.

If you have any questions about what I have gone over in this guide please feel free to comment below or ask in our forums. I’ll try my best to answer questions but I’m not a hardware manufacturer so I might not have all the answers.

TFT stands for thin-film transistor, which means that each pixel in the device has a thin-film transistor attached to it. Transistors are activated by electrical currents that make contact with the pixels to produce impeccable image quality on the screen. Here are some important features of TFT displays.Excellent Colour Display.Top notch colour contrast, clarity, and brightness settings that can be adjusted to accommodate specific application requirements.Extended Half-Life.TFT displays boast a much higher half-life than their LED counterparts and they also come in a variety of size configurations that can impact the device’s half-life depending on usage and other factors.TFT displays can have either resistive or capacitive touch panels.Resistive is usually the standard because it comes at a lower price point, but you can also opt for capacitive which is compatible with most modern smartphones and other devices.TFT displays offer exceptional aspect ratio control.Aspect ratio control contributes to better image clarity and quality by mapping out the number of pixels that are in the source image compared to the resolution pixels on the screen.Monitor ghosting doesn’t occur on TFT displays.This is when a moving image or object has blurry pixels following it across the screen, resembling a ghost.

TFT displays are incredibly versatile.The offer a number of different interface options that are compatible with various devices and accommodate the technical capabilities of all users.

There are two main types of TFT LCD displays:· Twisted nematic TFT LCDs are an older model. They have limited colour options and use 6 bits per each blue, red, and green channel.

In-plane switching TFT LCDs are a newer model. Originally introduced in the 1990s by Hitachi, in-plane switching TFT LCDs consist of moving liquid pixels that move in contrast or opposite the plane of the display, rather than alongside it.

The type of TFT LCD monitor or industrial display you choose to purchase will depend on the specifications of your application or project. Here are a few important factors to consider when selecting an appropriate TFT LCD display technology:Life expectancy/battery life.Depending on the length of ongoing use and the duration of your project, you’re going to want to choose a device that can last a long time while maintaining quality usage.

Touch type and accuracy.What type of activities are you planning on using your device for? If it’s for extended outdoor use, then you should go with projected capacitive touch as this is more precise and accurate. Touch accuracy is important for industrial and commercial applications.

Image clarity.Some TFT displays feature infrared touchscreens, while others are layered. The former is preferable, especially in poor lighting conditions or for outdoor and industrial applications, because there’s no overlay and therefore no obstructions to light emittance.

The environmental conditions make a difference in operation and image clarity. When choosing a TFT for outdoor or industrial applications, be sure to choose one that can withstand various environmental elements like dust, wind, moisture, dirt, and even sunlight.

As a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality digital displays in North America, Nauticomp Inc. can provide custom TFT LCD monitor solutions that are suitable for a multitude of industrial and commercial indoor and outdoor applications. Contact us today to learn more.

In recent time, China domestic companies like BOE have overtaken LCD manufacturers from Korea and Japan. For the first three quarters of 2020, China LCD companies shipped 97.01 million square meters TFT LCD. And China"s LCD display manufacturers expect to grab 70% global LCD panel shipments very soon.

BOE started LCD manufacturing in 1994, and has grown into the largest LCD manufacturers in the world. Who has the 1st generation 10.5 TFT LCD production line. BOE"s LCD products are widely used in areas like TV, monitor, mobile phone, laptop computer etc.

TianMa Microelectronics is a professional LCD and LCM manufacturer. The company owns generation 4.5 TFT LCD production lines, mainly focuses on making medium to small size LCD product. TianMa works on consult, design and manufacturing of LCD display. Its LCDs are used in medical, instrument, telecommunication and auto industries.

TCL CSOT (TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd), established in November, 2009. TCL has six LCD panel production lines commissioned, providing panels and modules for TV and mobile products. The products range from large, small & medium display panel and touch modules.

Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.(EDO) is a company dedicated to production of small-to-medium AMOLED display and research of next generation technology. The company currently has generation 4.5 OLED line.

Established in 1996, Topway is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the design and manufacturing of industrial LCD module. Topway"s TFT LCD displays are known worldwide for their flexible use, reliable quality and reliable support. More than 20 years expertise coupled with longevity of LCD modules make Topway a trustworthy partner for decades. CMRC (market research institution belonged to Statistics China before) named Topway one of the top 10 LCD manufactures in China.

Founded in 2006, K&D Technology makes TFT-LCM, touch screen, finger print recognition and backlight. Its products are used in smart phone, tablet computer, laptop computer and so on.

The Company engages in the R&D, manufacturing, and sale of LCD panels. It offers LCD panels for notebook computers, desktop computer monitors, LCD TV sets, vehicle-mounted IPC, consumer electronics products, mobile devices, tablet PCs, desktop PCs, and industrial displays.

Founded in 2008，Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology Co.,Ltd. dedicated themselves to developing high definition AMOLED (Active Matrix-Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and micro-displays.

Mobile display technology is firmly split into two camps, the AMOLED and LCD crowds. There are also phones sporting OLED technology, which is closely associated with the AMOLED panel type. AMOLED and LCD are based on quite different underlying technologies, leading manufacturers to tout a number of different benefits depending on which display type they’ve opted for. Smartphone manufacturers are increasingly opting for AMOLED displays, with LCD mostly reserved for less expensive phones.

Let’s find out if really there’s a noticeable difference between these two display technologies, what sort of differences we can expect, and if the company marketing hype is to be believed.

It’s hidden in the name, but the key component in these display types is a Light Emitting Diode (LED). Electronics hobbyists will no doubt have played around with these little lights before. In a display panel, these are shrunk down dramatically and arranged in red, green, and blue clusters to create an individual pixel that can reproduce white light and various colors, including red, green, and blue.

The arrangement of these sub-pixels alters the performance of the displays slightly. Pentile vs striped pixel layouts, for example, results in superior image sharpness, but lower pixel life spans due to the smaller pixel sizes.

The O part in OLED stands for organic. Simply put, there are a series of thin organic material films placed between two conductors in each LED, which is then used to produce light when a current is applied.

Finally, the AM part in AMOLED stands in for Active Matrix, rather than a passive matrix technology. This tells us how each little OLED is controlled. In a passive matrix, a complex grid system is used to control individual pixels, where integrated circuits control a charge sent down each column or row. But this is rather slow and can be imprecise. Active Matrix systems attach a thin film transistor (TFT) and capacitor to each LED. This way, when a row and column are activated to access a pixel, the capacitor at the correct pixel can retain its charge in between refresh cycles, allowing for faster and more precise control.

One other term you will encounter is Super AMOLED, which is Samsung’s marketing term for a display that incorporates the capacitive touchscreen right into the display, instead of it being a separate layer on top of the display. This makes the display thinner.

The major benefits from OLED type displays come from the high level of control that can be exerted over each pixel. Pixels can be switched completely off, allowing for deep blacks and a high contrast ratio. Great if you want a display capable of playing back HDR content. Being able to dim and turn off individual pixels also saves on power ever so slightly. The lack of other layers on top of the LEDs means that the maximum amount of light reaches the display surface, resulting in brighter images with better viewing angles.

The use of LEDs and minimal substrates means that these displays can be very thin. Furthermore, the lack of a rigid backlight and innovations in flexible plastic substrates enables flexible OLED-based displays. Complex LCD displays cannot be built in this way because of the backlight requirement. Flexy displays were originally very promising for wearables. Today, premium-tier smartphones make use of flexible OLED displays. Although, there are some concerns over how many times a display can flex and bend before breaking.

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display and reproduces colors quite differently from AMOLED. Rather than using individual light-emitting components, LCD displays rely on a backlight as the sole light source. Although multiple backlights can be used across a display for local dimming and to help save on power consumption, this is more of a requirement in larger TVs.

Scientifically speaking, there’s no individual white light wavelength. White light is a mixture of all other visible colors in the spectrum. Therefore, LCD backlights have to create a pseudo white light as efficiently as possible, which can then be filtered into different colors in the liquid crystal element. Most LCDs rely on a blue LED backlight which is filtered through a yellow phosphor coating, producing a pseudo white light.

The really complicated part comes next, as light is then polarized and passed through a crystal element. The crystal can be twisted to varying degrees depending on the voltage applied to it, which adjusts the angle of the polarized light. The light then passes through a second polarized filter that is offset by 90 degrees compared with the first, which will attenuate the light based on its angle. Finally, a red, green, or blue color filter is applied to this light, and these sub-pixels are grouped into pixels to adjust colors across the display.

All combined, this allows an LCD display to control the a