Given the great advances in mobile telephony, the devices have been improving remarkably in all aspects, including their screens. There is not only one type of panel in particular, today there are several mounted by the different mobile phone manufacturers.
It is one of the elements considered vital, in addition to being the most used in a smartphone, thanks to it we can make use of all the applications, interacting quickly. Thanks to technology, progress has been made, also improving response time, contrast, refresh rate and much more.
Today we are going to answer the question, AMOLED or IPS screen, two different types and that can be seen today in many of the mobile models on the market. The first has been gaining weight by being installed in mid-high range terminals, while the second in low and medium range mobiles.
What is LCD (IPS and TFT)?
The meaning of LCD is liquid crystal display., illuminates with a backlight and requires less power, making it very popular on mobile devices. LCD panels work quite well in any type of situation, even on those occasions when direct light hits them.
There are two types of LCD, IPS and TFT, both are different despite sharing the matrix itself, the first being the one that significantly improved the second. IPS stands for In-Plane Switching, it is an improvement of TFT LCD, improving field of view angles, color reproduction and contrast ratio.
The TFT LCD stands for "Thin Film Transducer", a version that improved the standard LCD. The matrix means that each of the pixels is connected to a transistor and capacitor individually. The panels have high contrast and are inexpensive to produce.
What is AMOLED?
AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is one of the great evolutions in mobile phone screens. He uses organic materials in order to emit light when electricity is applied, showing everything with good lighting and everything with great detail.
AMOLED panels will always be off unless individual pixels are turned on, displaying purer, more detailed black tones. When it comes to showing the dark hue, it does so by spending less energy than LCD panels, winning in this regard.
Regarding LCDs, LCD screens are somewhat more expensive, but it wins if compared to the aforementioned LCD panels, be they IPS or TFT. When it comes to showing video games, the AMOLED has been showing over time that they are better, as well as being flexible when it comes to bending them.
Advantages and disadvantages of IPS
The IPS LCD has been seen in numerous phone models that have been launched throughout 2021 and 2022, despite the appearance of AMOLEDs, there are many brands that are betting on IPS (LCD)-type panels over saturated AMOLEDs, plus the cost pulls them back.
Among the advantages of IPS, there are the following things:
- Better viewing angle if compared to AMOLED panelsIn this aspect, it stands out from its competition.
- A response time that has improved, at least on IPS LCD panels, in some cases exceeds AMOLED
- IPS panels display more vivid colors and above all well defined, it is certainly worth it to compete face to face with the AMOLED
- An intense white tone, the difference will be in the intensity and much clearer images compared to its rival
The cons of IPS LCD panels are:
- It has a high energy consumption, it requires much more due to its architecture, which makes you play against him a bit in this case
- IPS LCD panels need a stronger backlight, which results in higher power consumption, spending much more battery in the end.
- IPS devices need a backlight, occupying a little more space in the end and making the phones somewhat thicker, sometimes the manufacturer has to remove a component for this reason
Advantages and disadvantages of AMOLED
AMOLED panels have been advancing by leaps and bounds, gaining much to the LCD (regardless of the type), despite this they have not managed to take over the entire market. It has many advantages and few cons, if you are going to buy a phone you can determine to choose one that is of this type.
The advantages of AMOLEDs are:
- The black tone is much more intense as there is no backlight, wins over that of the IPS panel
- AMOLED has a lower power consumption, the battery will last compared to LCD panels (IPS), being completely off, they will have a longer life
- They have a high contrast, thereby providing a better relationship
- Once assembled, the phones will be much thinner in practice, since they lack a backlight and can mount more components.
- Does not require a backlight, so it will eliminate this component that has a final cost
The cons of AMOLED are several, probably less than you think:
- The production is somewhat expensive, the technology requires a high cost and that is why not everyone mounts this type of panel
- A lower brightness, this will affect areas of high light, less visible in sunlight
- AMOLED panels have a lower useful life than LCDs, the estimate speaks of about 14.000 hours of use, compared to more than 60.000 hours for IPS LCD
AMOLED or IPS LCD?
The choice goes through deciding on a phone that will perform, in large numbers, the panel IPS LCD is lagging behind AMOLEDIt even has to be said that OLEDs are gradually coming into play. Today's terminals have high quality when it comes to displaying images, whether they are IPS or AMOLED.
The high-end usually always install AMOLED panelThis is the case of the Black Shark 5, the Black Shark 5 Pro model opts for an OLED type. The refresh rate and touch sampling is the same, so relatively little changes when compared to each other, unless both are put on a test bench.