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iPhone X Is there anyone who prefers LCD over OLED?

Hieveryone

Hieveryone

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
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I recently bought a 2019 15" MacBook Pro base model.

Naturally, I've been staring at the big beautiful screen quite a lot.

But everytime I look at my iPhone X, I just feel like the screen is way too bright and saturated.

It just looks yuck.

I was thinking if Apple releases an OLED MacBook Pro next year, it might not even be that pleasant to stare at for work or whatever you're doing

EDIT: I'm thinking it might have been better to have posted this in the MacBook Pro forum...my sincere apologies!
 
Consumers don’t care about OLED and LCD, they hardly can tell the difference as it is. As a matter fact, there’s even been tests (On Youtube) where consumers couldn’t tell the difference between the XR display and XS display. Generally, Apples color calibration and brightness on the displays has always been stellar.
 
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I must admit, I do really like a saturated display. I love bold, in ur face colours. I don’t really find Apple’s oled displays to be saturated tbh and am kinda disappointed. I had the s9+ and an A70 before my Xs max and any wallpaper I put in those looked absolutely stunning. A real wow effect. The same wallpaper on XSM looks kind of flat. It lacks pop Imo.

LCD/ips, imo are less worrisome in the long run. With oled I am always aware of static images lingering too long on a app/website etc and it kinda makes me a little ocd since I’ve been burned by oled display in the past
 
Personally I prefer LCD screens, I don’t need oversaturated colours just normal looking images. If I had to say something I would prefer different on my Max, I would say LCD IPS 16:9 screen without reducing the width, although getting rid of the glass back would make it lighter which I would also appreciate - I’m not a fan of wireless charging anyway.
 
For a TV I much prefer OLED for the perfect blacks. For a computer I prefer LCD because there is no burn-in. Either is fine for a phone, they are often used in bright environments where screen reflectivity affects the blacks, and are used for shorter periods and show more variable images, so burn-in often isn't too bad.

The answers may change as those technologies advance. But LCD and OLED are both likely to be surpassed by either microLED or electroluminescent quantum dots. Both are self-illuminated pixels, so perfect blacks, but don't have the burn-in issues.
 
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Its a very subjective thing but my eyes work less with LCD vs OLED in its current form (not sure if PWM or the pentile display but don’t think that’s an issue since it has such a high res)


I love my OLED tv’s tho
 
I can’t tell the difference between OLED and LCD displays when it comes to Apple to be honest..... only when looking at a pure black screen in a dark room.
 
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bigjnyc said:
I can’t tell the difference between OLED and LCD displays when it comes to Apple to be honest..... only when looking at a pure black screen in a dark room.
Click to expand...

I think you hit the nail in the head here. Looking at an LCD, ips image and looking at the same image on, say’ a galaxy samsung amoled device the difference is instantly apparent. Samsung favour the over saturated look which I personally like.

Apple on the other hand seem to have gone for a more subdued calibration on their oled displays which I assume is intentional. Looking at iPhones with lcd vs iPhones with Oled panels the difference is quite subtle and maybe not as immediately noticeable. I find the deeper blacks and variance in whiter shades is where the difference can be perceived.
 
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If push comes to shove (pricewise) LCD is fine. OLED to me doesn't justify increased cost, keep in mind just talking about an iPhone not TV's.
 
The battery life of the iPhone XR tempts me but OLED is sooo nice with the great contrast ratio. OLED will probably consume less power in the future and it will be the only screens that are used.
 
The iPhone X is one of the most color accurate displays out of the box. The Xs just might have the best color calibration of any display from the factory according to Anandtech. Check out Anandtech’s review of the Xs and Xs Max displays.

Apple’s implementation of Samsung Display’s AMOLED technology is downright sick and nasty in a good way. There are differences I’m still seeing to this day. For instance, I watched a popular 4K HDR video with a lot of dark scenes on a Tab S5e when I owned it. Towards the end of the video I started noticing some weird artifacts and really bad banding I hadn't noticed before. Pulled my Xs Max out, and they simply weren’t present on the video anymore. In my opinion the Xs and Xs Max are some of the best displays money can currently buy, even with AMOLED’s inherit drawbacks.
 
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I prefer LCD for the following reasons;
- No burn in
- uses less battery
The idea of an OLED on a cell phone to me is almost comical to be honest. OLED on big screen TV sets looks wonderful but this whole notion that a cell phone needs to compete with these things is as I said, comical. I need to watch high def or better on a tiny screen like I need a hole in the head.
 
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A colleague of mine was browsing iPhones today at work after his iPhone 7 has a microphone fault. He asked me what the difference between the XS and XR was? I said the XS has a stainless chassis, a slightly better camera, and an OLED screen. What’s an OLED screen he asked? I showed him an XR and another colleagues XS side by side..... I’ll get the XR he said lol.

The moral of the story? Most people don’t care or notice the difference between these screens. Unless you are conscious of it or into tech, it’s not going to drive you towards the £250+ price tag.
 
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jay968 said:
I prefer LCD for the following reasons;
- No burn in
- uses less battery
The idea of an OLED on a cell phone to me is almost comical to be honest. OLED on big screen TV sets looks wonderful but this whole notion that a cell phone needs to compete with these things is as I said, comical. I need to watch high def or better on a tiny screen like I need a hole in the head.
Click to expand...

OLED would only be beneficial for me on a larger display like on a 65” TV Or higher. On 6.5 a smart phone display, I’m indifferent to that. As a matter fact, OLED wasn’t even a consideration purchase for me when I upgraded to the Max, I simply wanted the larger display and bigger battery.
 
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Yes... I'll get over quality difference as they are close enough I'd never notice unless side by side and LCD just seems a lot more reliable. No Mura effect (have they fixed this in newer OLEDs? I know my Vita was very prone to this) and no real worries about burn in. I'd rather reliability over slightly better picture.
 
timeconsumer said:
Apple LCD's are usually the best. I prefer LCD over OLED for flicker-free/no PWM.
Click to expand...

Same here. And I would bet the Apple Pro XDR will change everyone's perception on LCD, and challenge the OLED status as being the best and unbeatable.

( And my gut feeling is that the ProXDR will really be Reference Monitor Good )
 
At this point I still think the iPhone plus' displays are the best Apple has yet made - 401 RGB pixels per inch vs "~458 ppi" pentile which effectively means half RG and half BG pixels with some clever software interpolation to show a full RGB image. I tend to find you notice the sub pixel structure on pentile OLEDs more, even at these relatively high pixel densities (though much credit to Apple for really going the extra mile with upping the fill density (larger subpixels with less space between them) over Samsung's usual arrangement, and calibrating so well). With dark mode now coming to iOS, the pure blacks will now actually have some meaning too (will look better on oled phones, and will probably increase battery life as well).
 
For TV, OLED by far. I was watching Game of Throne's Battle of Winterfell and the difference between OLED and LED was pretty stark on that one. I can't speak for iPhone since I only have an iPhone 7 at the moment (but will upgrade this year).
 
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