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

[pl1984]

It boggles the mind that if a display isn't a perfect rectangle, people lose their freakin' minds.

It has nothing to do with not being a perfect rectangle and everything to do with being an intrusion into content.
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Is that a real question? For one, you don't want to end up in Android hell if you don't tithe. It also goes towards Tim Cook's overdue pay raise for job well done, new mega campus for incubating new innovations, trickling down to foreign workers and the benefits go on.

Of course it's a real question. As a consumer how does a companies higher profit margin benefit me? Intuitively one would think a lowering the price, and thus the profit margin, would be of benefit. Would you not agree?

 

[DNichter]

Ultimately, this is good for everyone. I expect display performance to continue to improve and I am looking forward to the shift to micro LED.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

All I know is the display Apple developed last year bested Samsung. Is it that unreasonable to think Samsung took some of whatever they did and applied it to their new display?

Bingo! I could care less who has the best display, it only lasts until the next phone from each manufacturer comes out. What I do like is the competition between them to outdo each other with each new release.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

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%.

Huge difference. Clearly I will make my decision based on that 1.3%.

 

[cocky jeremy]

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

As opposed to a giant bezel along the top for mostly no reason?

 

[kdarling]

All I know is the display Apple developed last year bested Samsung. Is it that unreasonable to think Samsung took some of whatever they did and applied it to their new display?

To be clear, Apple didn't develop that OLED display. It was the same as other modern Samsung designs. Nor did they claim to have done so, if we read their blurbs carefully.

What Apple did was to develop their own calibration method, as DisplayMate noted.

It has nothing to do with not being a perfect rectangle and everything to do with being an intrusion into content.

The notch did not have to be an intrusion. The wings could've simply been a clever way to utlize the spare space for the usual phone status indicators.

It only looks like an intrusion because Apple went a bit crazy and also uses it for regular content.

 

[techconc]

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

Just a little less stupid than the S9 with the chin and forehead I suppose. Also, regarding the notch, it's funny how many Android phones are now trying to copy that.
[doublepost=1519935364][/doublepost]It's funny how people read a line or two from the conclusion and skip over the details. The S9 display is nearly identical to the iPhone X in most regards including color accuracy, etc. The differences are likely a margin in error from measurement. The biggest difference in the displays is that the iPhone X is still significantly brighter which can be a big deal when viewing the phone outside in bright sunlight.

 

[deanthedev]

Context matters.

Yes it does. I wonder why you’re being pedantic by limiting your “context” to a single generic comment instead of looking at things from an overall perspective.

Lots of MR posters have made ridiculous comments about the notch in the past. For example:

I don’t like the notch because it does “insert behavior here” when in fact it doesn’t do what they claim at all. Which proves the poster has never actually used an iPhone X, otherwise they wouldn’t be stating something that’s clearly false.

When I read the comment by @Brian Y I instantly remember these types of comments and base my understanding of his comment not on what he just said (or what was said in this thread) but on my memory of these types of comments I've seen on MR. Therefore his comment makes perfect sense to me.

 

[apolloa]

The X looks stunning , I think overall it’s the more classy device.

 

[pl1984]

The notch did not have to be an intrusion. The wings could've simply been a clever way to utlize the spare space for the usual phone status indicators.

It only looks like an intrusion because Apple went a bit crazy and also uses it for regular content.

They didn't go crazy. If they didn't use it for content then they would have...a bezel!

 

[DaveOP]

Apple are the only one throwing around the"all screen" BS

View attachment 752865

View attachment 752869

Sorry, was this post trying to demonstrate something?

 

[pl1984]

The X looks stunning , I think overall it’s the more classy device.

While your comment is based on your preferences I have to say that both devices are equally classy. You can't go wrong with either one.

Regarding point of the article where the screen of the GS9 beats out the iPhone X screen I would have to say 99.9% of users won't care. It's a victory for which there is no competition. The displays on all high end smart phones are top notch (excuse the pun).

 

[-BigMac-]

It's hilarious how when something is better than iPhone X, it's excuses, excuses, excuses. But there no limit on the comparing of the brand new iPhone X to older Samsung or Pixel or whatever, and that's OK.

No bias here!

I dont have an X, i actually bashed the X when it was announced. However, all I said was “newer technology is usually better than older technology.”

Too much staring at your Samsung, not enough time at the optometrist x

 

[subjonas]

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

But this makes sense because people who don’t like the notch likely aren’t going to buy it. In other words, it kind of has to be this way.
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Your choice is notch or bezel... Personally now that apps are embracing the ears on the X, that area is becoming useful. Where it could just be black bezel...

I believe the ideal solution with current technology isn’t that the ears should go back to being unused black space. The status icons are a good place for them (really status icons are the only use they have as far as I can tell). Rather, the ears should house the status icons with a black background. That way you get a uniform, “uninterrupted” rectangle screen and UI, with the status icons moved off into the bezel.

 

[dannys1]

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%.

So if you count the % below their top bezel (and the top and bottom aren't even the same size!) which they now have to use for static status bar, then it definitely has less screen space than the iPhone X.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

The notch did not have to be an intrusion. The wings could've simply been a clever way to utlize the spare space for the usual phone status indicators.

.....which doesn't translate to landscape use.

 

[bevsb2]

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

it hasn't been released yet except to reviewers.

 

[pl1984]

So if you count the % below their top bezel (and the top and bottom aren't even the same size!) which they now have to use for static status bar, then it definitely has less screen space than the iPhone X.

I think this whole discussion about screen real estate is getting a little crazy. The insistence on a bezel less design seems to be grounded more in appearance than it does in practicality (I say this as a GS 7 Edge owner who things the edge design, while nice looking, is not practical). To debate 5 or 10 more pixels doesn't make sense to me.

 

[s15119]

What amazes me is how personally people take all of this. I don't comprehend. Do people really have that much personally invested in what kind of phone someone likes?

To me, all recent phones are excellent. Nice displays, fast engaging software, plenty of cool and useful apps. After that, it's just personal preference. Like what color shirt you wear, or how you comb your hair.

I love my SE. It's not the fastest, doesn't have the best display; it suits my needs perfectly for the money I spent. It doesn't make a bit of difference to me what phone you like to use. It's a tool. It works. Life is wonderful. Enjoy it.

 

[Wanted797]

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?

Look at it this way.

They didn’t obscure part of the screen where the notch is. They extended the screen around it. Rather than leaving those two little wings bare and unusable like Samsung has.
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Release dates within 4 months doesn't really qualify a tech to be older or newer.

It was still announced in September.

 

[macduke]

That includes the unusable side wrap around screen, right?

I mean, it looks kind of cool, but it's completely useless. Especially if you use a case. Looking at my X right now in the Apple Leather Case, the black bezel is even more slim. Eyeballing it, there's maybe a millimeter of flat surface black before the glass starts to bend down and around the edge of the device which then quickly disappears behind the case. So maybe 2mm total with case. I think they did this because if you tilt the device at an angle to look more edge-on, that gives you just enough clearance that the rounded edge doesn't start to distort display content. I mean, Apple thinks about this crap when designing something. Now if they wanted to, they could wrap the display all the way and use software to create safe zone padding for legibility of content around the outside, but the fact remains that it would be the same usable space while giving a small hit to battery life, display performance, and an increased manufacturing cost. My guess is they might be saving that for their notchless design which we might see in 2020 since Apple may have moved to a three year design cycle now.

 

[aevan]

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

Better. That’s how the iPhone X looks: better.

 

[1050792]

Better. It looks better.

I know everyone has its own definition of good and bad looking and I respect it, but the front of the iPhone X looks disgusting next to the S9

 

[rosse59]

Too bad it's running Android...

 

[aevan]

I know everyone has its own definition of good and bad looking and I respect it, but the front of the iPhone X looks disgusting next to the S9

It looks much better and nicer and interesting to me. S9 looks pedestrian compared to X. Not bad, but dull. Nothing disgusting about the X, especially standing next to S9. But maybe next time, huh? Samsung didn’t have enough time to copy it this year.

You may personally dislike it, and that’s fine.