This site may earn chapter commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

Almost a twelvemonth ago, rumors spread that Samsung might industry OLED screens for the next iPhone. At the time, we examined the rumors and called them plausible, given that OLED engineering science continues to improve at a reasonable pace, while LCD engineering is fairly well-established. Fast forward to the iPhone vii, and Apple tree clearly chose to stick with LCDs this fourth dimension around. That doesn't mean they didn't break some records — in fact, the LCD screen on the iPhone 7 just might exist the best LCD built for any smartphone, always.

That'due south according to Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate, who put the iPhone 7 through its paces. The device features support for the traditional Rec. 709 gamut used for modern HDTV, also every bit the wider DCI-P3 used for digital movie projection. This color standard isn't as broad as the newer Rec.2020, but information technology'southward 26% larger than the older HDTV standard that most smartphones and tablets utilise. Dr. Soneira'south tests show the iPhone 7 as having the highest absolute color accuracy, the highest luminance accuracy, the highest contrast ratios, the lowest screen reflectance ever measured, and the smallest colour variation with viewing angle, though observed effulgence nonetheless takes a hefty whack in off-angle viewing (this has ever been a weakness of LCD technology).

iPhone7-Power-Display

Best of all, fifty-fifty absolute display power efficiency has gotten somewhat better. Compared with the iPhone half dozen, the iPhone vii's maximum display power has only increased by 1%, while its relative power efficiency is 7% meliorate than its predecessor. A vii% improvement in relative power efficiency in a single yr, combined with all the other positive changes, is a serious gain for merely one year.

The flip side to this, of form, is that Samsung continues to build beautiful OLED displays in its ain right, with successive improvements and capabilities. Which one y'all prefer is more a question of taste, at this signal, rather than objective "better-ness." OLED displays don't e'er save ability compared with LCDs (it depends on the brightness level of the content). But Samsung uses an oversaturated gamut by default that some people prefer over Apple's cooler, but more than authentic color reproduction. OLEDs nevertheless have real advantages over LCDs (thinner displays, higher efficiency in some content, flexible substrates). But Apple is fairly conservative about introducing new features until information technology'southward sure it has them nailed down.

Contempo discussions of Apple tree versus Samsung have revolved effectually problems involving headphone jacks, Galaxy Note 7 recalls, and Apple tree's affect disease. Discussions of bodily production improvements have been waylaid by other factors. That'southward not a bad affair, if those other factors are the most salient reasons to purchase or not buy a given device, but information technology obscured some of the real improvements Apple made this time effectually. Then once again, relentlessly chasing perfect tends to create intrinsically diminishing marginal returns. Apple has avoided hopping on the pointlessly-loftier resolution bandwagon. How much meliorate can smartphone displays practically become?