DisplayMate: Samsung Galaxy S9 Beats iPhone X With 'Best Performing Smartphone Display'

[FSMBP]

Whichever phone has the better display - the one thing the iPhone X has done is started a shift away from horribly oversaturated OLED displays!

Which, no matter what badge your phone has, can only be a good thing.



I'm not "embracing" it - but I really don't see how it matters. Once you've used the phone for a few days, you don't notice it. At all.

The vast majority of people who moan about the notch are those who don't own one.

Getting used to a problem shouldn't be the new normal. It's like saying "My car's A/C doesn't work in the summer but you get used to it". Ideally, you'd want A/C and the notch wouldn't be there.

Why is it so hard for Apple fans to admit the notch is a compromise? Apple isn't a person - you're not betraying them with criticism. They make easy to use, amazing products. But not everything decision they make is gold.

 

[now i see it]

It also congratulated Samsung - Apple's iPhone X screen supplier - for developing and manufacturing the "outstanding" OLED panel, but said that it was actually the Apple-developed "Precision Display Calibration" that made the biggest difference, since it transformed the OLED hardware "into a superbly accurate, high performance, and gorgeous display

As long as Samsung produces 2nd tier OLED panels for Apple, the iPhone display will always play second fiddle to the Galaxy phones.

Interesting that no one (yet) is complaining about PWM display flicker induced eye strain and headaches from the new Galaxy S9, where there's plenty of complaints about trashed eyeballs using the X.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/unread

 

[DiamonDecoden]

And no matter what. Those Apple shares will keep soaring despite this evidence. And always will. That’s how impressive the Apple ecosystem is. Normal rules of business never apply here.

Not to mention, they have a very strong brand following and it is very popular with kids and also older generation (like my parents; Android would be too complicated for them). Also, their closed ecosystem is kind of like a 'trap' too. I am also glad there are more competition these days. there are lots of company with great handsets these days at varying price points.

Samsung might have some of the feature rich phones that are very capable but it is not what the majority will want. Apple have a very strong marketing too, so it is always cool to have an iPhone. The higher cost of the X is also to distinguish between their lower cost phones. Not always cost is dictated by the cost of the raw material. It signals that they are still a premium brand as well. We all know that higher the price does not always being the best. In Apple's case, they produce a good phone that majority are happy with.

 

[mpavilion]

In other words, "Thank you Apple for pouring loads of money into Samsung's R&D for these gorgeous displays."

Samsung should be thanking Apple for buying its superior displays? That’s how business works... lol.

 

[jonnyo]

What isn't up for debate is that the hardware-software marriage still feels like a shotgun is involved.

 

[GoodWheaties]

FWIW, I’m not too keen on any OLED panel. Samsung’s displays are usually too saturated and the iPhone X, while having better colour calibration, isn’t as restful on my eyes as the lcd’s. I have the X and I find the oled screen still a bit too ‘stark’ for my liking even compared to my LCD iPhone. The screen I’m happiest with is the lcd panel in the iPad Pro 10.5 where the TrueTone setting makes all the difference (even though the X has this feature too). I also, weirdly, quite like the Apple Watch OLED display - go figure!

Next time, though the X is a great all round phone, I’m tempted to go back to an LCD version depending on what Apple leave out of it compared to the premium versions.

Something has always bothered me about OLED as well. I’m not sure if it’s because of the direct light from the pixels or the sub pixel layout. The reason the Apple Watch doesn’t bother you could be because it is an (slightly unusual) RGB screen instead of pentile. With pentile screens the off-axis green/blue shift really bothers me.

 

[dlemmon]

I think my iPhone X display is top notch.

 

[Baymowe335]

The screen-to-body ratio on iPhone X is about 82.9%. The “all-screen” iPhone is 17.1% not-screen. The screen-to-body ratio on Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is 84.2%.

A lot of that screen advantage for the s9 is wrapped on the sides, which is stupid. Math may say one thing, but the X looks like it has more screen.

 

[BlankStar]

And so the cycle continues. I can imagine the camera is also better than the iPhone X and that it scores better on benchmarks. And guess what, in September, the new iPhone(s) will clame the throne again... And then the Galaxy S10 will clame it in March of 2019...

And the more they push eachother (incl other Android-vendors) the better we consumers have it. So hurray for the new S9, so the Apple engineers have to work their ass off to beat it in Septemeber!

 

[Clogger]

Something has always bothered me about OLED as well. I’m not sure if it’s because of the direct light from the pixels or the sub pixel layout. The reason the Apple Watch doesn’t bother you could be because it is an (slightly unusual) RGB screen instead of pentile. With pentile screens the off-axis green/blue shift really bothers me.

I am not a fan of OLED either, lots of issues with them from burn in to colour shifting etc.. Unfortunately a lot of people have been brainwashed by marketing. Yes blacks are "blacker" but the reality is the majority of social media apps and web pages use white backgrounds still. Apple still can't even be arsed introducing a proper dark mode. I can understand it for TV's but not for phones.

For the watch I get it, as it saves battery and the screen is mostly black, colour shift isn't really an issue.

 

[adamski23]

Seems to me there are trade offs like accidental touches and screens being more breakable.

I'm hopeful phone companies can enhance palm rejection and accidental touches. To me, the aesthetic beauty of all screen far outweighs compromises such as fragility.

 

[triangletechie]

I predict the Xs/11/?? Plus will have a better camera than the S9+. THEN, the S10+ will have a better camera than the Xs/11/?? Plus. THEN....

 

[mazz0]

Look how stupid the iPhone X looks next to the S9 with that disgusting notch.

The iPhone X looks miles nicer. The curved corners of the Samsungs' screens just look so wrong in relation to the corners of the body.
[doublepost=1519917517][/doublepost]Does it have that annoying habit of going blue when you look at it from anything other than straight on, like the iPhone X does?

 

[Rogifan]

I'm hopeful phone companies can enhance palm rejection and accidental touches. To me, the aesthetic beauty of all screen far outweighs compromises such as fragility.

It is interesting though that none of these companies get tagged with the whole “form over function” like Apple has/does.

 

[kemal]

I'm going to get an s9+ rather then any phone Apple released in 2017.

 

[kalafalas]

These days, between the displays, no-notch form factor, fingerprint reader, lighter materials, and flush no-bump camera designs I like Samsung’s hardware better than apples. Too bad iOS is light years ahead of android for me. Oh well, still love my iPhone X with all my heart. Now Apple - please - give me a smaller lighter one with a flush camera!!

 

[nia820]

In my opinion the s8 even had a better screen. The X doesn't have a bad display. But I think it's overated.

 

[jona2125]

This line again...

Of course they don't own one! Why would people buy a $1000 product that has a key "feature" they actively dislike? They wouldn't! Common sense, man.

I bought two actually because unfortunately the only way to have iMessage is to have an iPhone

 

[I7guy]

This line again...

Of course they don't own one! Why would people buy a $1000 product that has a key "feature" they actively dislike? They wouldn't! Common sense, man.

I’ve been told on these very fora that people sometimes buy the best of the worst. So it could be people “hate” the notch but buy the phone anyway. So it’s not as clear cut as you make it out to be.

 

[blackcrayon]

I rather have absolutely no obstruction when viewing a full screen video. And I watch plenty of videos on my phone.

The X gains extra space for what? A status bar that some previous icons can't even fit on it.

Extra space is extra space. For a given physical size of the phone-ish object in your hands, having usable space at the sides of the bezel allows you to fit a little bit more on the screen.

The iPhone X's aspect ratio in landscape is wider than the majority of video. If the notch is obstructing your video, you're zooming in and cropping the top and bottom of it. Why would you want to do that?

 

[BuffaloTF]

I rather have absolutely no obstruction when viewing a full screen video. And I watch plenty of videos on my phone.

The X gains extra space for what? A status bar that some previous icons can't even fit on it.

You are viewing full screen video without obstruction. The notch is *outside* of full-screen 16:9 content, not touching it in any way. If you choose to zoom it, you’re cropping the video. Not as badly as watching a movie on an old 4:3 tv... but you aren’t watching the full content of the video...

 

[1050792]

This was to be expected. As always Samsung displays are the best for smartphones.

 

[deanthedev]

This line again...

Of course they don't own one! Why would people buy a $1000 product that has a key "feature" they actively dislike? They wouldn't! Common sense, man.

You missed the point. Apple has a good return policy. Buy one, try it, and return it if you don’t like it. This applies to the iPhone X with the notch, the MBP with the new keyboard some people don’t like or the HomePod. Complaining without trying something sounds like my kids and food:

“Eat your veggies please.”
“I don’t like them.”
“Have you tried them?”
“No. I just know I won’t like them.”

 

[roland.g]

Wait a moment. Are you saying that one product, developed, announced and released after another competing product has improved specifications. I didn’t know that was how the consumer tech race went. Thanks for clarifying that. Let me guess. The next iPhone will be marginally better than this Galaxy. The following Galaxy will do the same. Rinse and repeat.

 

[csurfr]

Unfortunately, people here are actually embracing the 'notch' - like if a smartphone doesn't have a notch, it sucks. This is why people don't respect Apple fans.

Since when does obscuring part of screen is selling point?! Does that mean all prior iPhones were inferior because they didn't have this 'beautiful notch' or can someone please admit it is a compromise and the ideal solution is no notch?

Clearly you haven’t been paying attention to MWC. Companies are falling all over themselves to copy the notch. Asus and LG being the most prominent.