AMOLED Display Explained

You are currently viewing AMOLED Display Explained

In this article, I wrote a little bit to make AMOLED Display explained to you. The AMOLED display is one of the most popular screens on the smartphone market. We will find out right now what an AMOLED display is and how it works. Let’s get started

The technology used to make the AMOLED display

AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED) is a technology used to make the screens of smartwatches, phones, laptops, and televisions. It works on the principle of OLED technology and traditional TFT display, merging them into one.

Let’s start from the beginning. The LED display (Light Emitting Diode) consists of small diodes, which emit light when electricity is passed through them. They are clustered and arranged as red (red – R), green (green – G), and blue (blue – B) components, to create subpixels. These subpixels together form white light or a certain shade of color.

The mark O in the name OLED display indicates organic material, which is located between two conductors in each LED component. It remains for us to explain what the letters A and M mean – it is Active Matrix and represents a system in which TFT (Thin Film Transistor) and capacitor are added to each LED component.

So, the AMOLED display consists of the so-called active matrices of OLED pixels, which attract light when the current comes in contact with the TFT part of the matrix. In this way, the flow of light to each individual pixel is controlled. How?

Simply put, the flow of light to the pixel is usually controlled by two TFT transistors – the first is used to start and stop the charging capacity, and the second is to provide a constant voltage that reaches the pixel. In this way, the use of the so-called passive-matrix technology, which was previously used to make OLED displays, was avoided.

The progress that has been achieved with the introduction of AMOLED technology is extremely important, because each display of content, ie. images, shows one line at a time. Through its capacity and charging method, each line containing pixels is maintained, so it is possible to increase the resolution of a given content and reduce the screen thickness.

AMOLED display Vs. OLED display

When comparing AMOLED and OLED technology, it can be noticed that the response time of the AMOLED display is less than a millisecond, with reduced use of the required power.

Because of these advantages, the AMOLED display is suitable for use in portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, where the use of power is crucial for battery life. By comparison, one OLED display uses 0.3 W while showing white text on a black surface and 0.7 W when showing black text on a white surface.

On the other hand, the LCD uses 0.35 W regardless of the color of the surface and the text. Considering that the AMOLED display shows black pixels that are actually turned off, lower power consumption, while better contrast.

Also, due to the lack of layers, the light reaches the surface of the screen more easily, which gives a lighter content, which is easily visible in the sun. The AMOLED display also has a downside – it also contains organic substances that have a short lifespan, so the display itself will not last forever.

The AMOLED display was first used in 2010 in devices manufactured by Samsung and HTC. Today, the AMOLED display is one of the most popular on the market, so it is used by Microsoft, Sony, Motorola, and many others in their devices. Samsung has gone the furthest, so you’ll find most AMOLED tags right on their devices.

In which versions does the AMOLED display appear?

Super AMOLED

Super AMOLED is an AMOLED display that has a built-in digitizer. In this way, the layer, which registers that there is a touch, is located in the screen itself, instead of being above it. This technology was used to make the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Samsung Galaxy S3.

Super AMOLED Advanced

The Super AMOLED Advanced display differs from the Super AMOLED display version in several segments:

  • the content emitted by the screen is brighter,
  • it supports a higher resolution,
  • it reduces energy consumption by 25%.

Super AMOLED Advanced displays use the so-called. PenTile technology and, instead of the display consisting of RGB pixels, as is the case with LED screens, an RGBG system is used in which there is not one but two green subpixels. In this way, a certain part of the image quality is lost, because the resolution is lower. Phones that have used this kind of AMOLED display are Motorola Droid RAZR and HTC One S.

Super AMOLED Plus

This kind of AMOLED display is used in the Samsung Galaxy S series phones. The technology that was previously made, where PenTile RGBG pixel matrices are used, has been replaced with three RGB RGB subpixels, which can most often be seen on LCD screens.

Super AMOLED Plus was created to overcome the shortcomings of the previous two versions. In this way, an image is created that is brighter, cleaner, and requires less energy consumption.

HD Super AMOLED

HD Super AMOLED is a product of Samsung’s desire to create an AMOLED display that supports HD resolution (resolution larger than 1280 × 720 pixels). The first phone to use this version of the display was the Samsung Galaxy Note. Later, this technology was introduced in both the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Samsung Galaxy S3 models.

Full HD Super AMOLED

This AMOLED display was first used on the Samsung Galaxy S4 phone, with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. Full HD Super AMOLED delivers a wide display, with a wide range of colors.

Quad HD Super AMOLED

The Quad HD Super AMOLED display was first used by AU Optronics (an association of Acer and Unipac). Later, Samsung also started using this version of the display, for its Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Samsung Galaxy S6, and Samsung Galaxy S7 phones.

Transparent AMOLED

Many companies already use Transparent AMOLED technology to create their screens. However, this kind of AMOLED display is still not in everyday use and is not commercialized, because it is believed that there is still not enough application for such screens.

What will the AMOLED display bring in the future?

AMOLED is a technology that continues to evolve. As you have seen, there are various variations in which this technology is applied, and there will be even more in the future. So we can freely say that the future of the AMOLED screen is bright, just like the content it provides! With the constant advancement of technology, there are now flexible, 3D, unbreakable, and transparent screens.

This is what the AMOLED display is heading for, and the desire of innovators who deal with this technology is to make them even more effective, efficient, and better to use. We really believe that he will succeed in that.

Mircic91.com is an affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Mircic91.com is an affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Share this post