OLED or LCD?
Soft OLED, Hard OLED or LCD what’s right for you?
Whilst I’ll try to keep this as short as possible it’s a massive subject but it is definatly worth knowing if you own an OLED based device.
OLED technology has been used in Samsung devices for quite some time and has recently been incorporated into various Apple devices. such as the iPhone X and the iphone 11 pro (and others) all came out of the factory with a soft OLED resulting in the heavier price tag.
So in short what is an OLED and how does it differ from the LCD found in the likes of the iPhone XR and iPhone 11?
OLED (Soft & Hard)
There are two kinds of OLED, Soft Oled (used in Apple & Samsung devices) and aftermarket Hard OLEDs used by most repairers to keep the cost down.
it’s easier to let the differences between hard and soft OLED speak for themselves than it is to declare one better than the other.
Soft OLEDs are pricier, better match the original screen and display size compare favorably to OEM performance.
Hard OLEDs are cheaper, perform nearly as well as an OEM screen, but are a lot more fragile!
Soft OLED
Soft OLEDs are made of a flexible plastic substrate, which is why they last longer than Hard OLEDs. They are much more resistant to impact. Soft OLEDs also fit better into the frame than Hard OLEDs.
Hard OLED
At a cheaper price than Soft OLED, Hard OLED screens are built using a hard glass substrate instead of the flexible substrate. These come at the expense of display size and durability. The hard glass substrate can’t flex to accommodate the original curve of the display, so the screen has an enlarged bezel that fractionally, but noticeably, reduces the size.
LCD
LCD is a proven technology and has been used since the inception of the iPhone. To this date Apple still uses it themselves on their budget range (if there was such a thing) on the iPhone XR and iPhone 11. Whilst to the eye you wouldn’t really notice the difference between an LCD and OLED but you will notice 15% more battery drain. The advantage is the cost, as there offered to the market at a fraction of the cost of the more expensive Soft OLED and are far stronger than the Hard OLEDs.
What should I choose?
The short answer is it depends on your priorities. Do you want a cheap screen or a more premium screen? Do you want your device to be more like OEM?
Here at Gemini Computing we believe that whatever you choose you shouldn’t be paying twice and longevity is paramount. It is for this reason we only offer a Soft OLED option where possible, as Hard OLEDs are just far too fragile and we would only see our customers coming back.
IMPORTANT TIP! Whatever you choose even to the trained eye it’s very hard to distinguish between the three displays on offer so always ask your installer for some sort of evidence that they are installing what you have asked for.