Apple has confirmed that the iPhone X's OLED display will be subject to burn-in eventually. The biggest differentiator between iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus is the near bezel-less design, Face ID and use of OLED display as opposed to LCD found on all previous iPhones. With Google Pixel 2 XL users reporting screen burn-in just few weeks after launch, iPhone X users also started wondering about similar burn-in on their device.
Apple has now cleared the air with the release of a new support document detailing the engineering of Super Retina OLED display on iPhone X. As always, Apple elaborates the advantage of an OLED panel over LCD including a 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio and high brightness. It claims Super Retina offers further advancements over traditional OLED displays to enable superior viewing experience. The company is also highlighting how it has tweaked the OLED display to match 'the standards of iPhone.'
"The Super Retina display overcomes challenges with traditional OLED displays with its high brightness, wide color support, and has the best color accuracy in the industry," reads the document.
The use of an OLED display on a smartphone is not new. The Samsung Galaxy S launched in 2010 featured Super AMOLED display and has only improved with every successive launch in the Galaxy S series. However, the OLED displays are not perfect and suffer from some issues over a period of time.
Apple highlights that an OLED display might show shift in colour and hue when seen off-angle. It adds that it is one of the characteristic of OLED and is normal behaviour. Furthermore, it notes that OLED displays can also show visual changes including "image persistence" or "burn-in" over long-term use. A burn-in arises when an image remains on the display for so long that it seems to have stuck on the display. Apple adds, "We've engineered the Super Retina display to be the best in the industry in reducing the effects of OLED burn-in."
Apple's iOS 11 GM has shown included code to mitigate screen burn-in and the company says users can further reduce the likelihood of it by using the Auto-brightness setting. It even recommends iPhone X users to set shorter time for auto lock and avoiding display of static images at maximum brightness for long periods of time. With iPhone X, Apple is making major shift by adopting OLED display and bezel-less design that ditches the home button. The company is educating the users how to navigate the device and the new support document highlighting benefits of OLED display comes primarily after growing backlash against Google and its use of P-OLED display on Pixel 2 XL.