Have you noticed that starting from 2025, even some budget phones are beginning to adopt OLED screens, and new models featuring LCD screens are becoming increasingly rare? It seems that LCD screens may face complete elimination. What is the reason behind this?In fact, professional smartphone display engineers understand this better than we do. Compared to LCD screens, OLED screens have numerous advantages. Aside from eye protection and detail, they outperform in almost every other aspect, specifically including:
1. They are thinner and can be curved.As of 2025, the ability of OLED screens to be curved may not be a significant advantage, as it can be assumed that future flagship models will predominantly feature flat screens. However, the thinner profile of OLED screens is still very practical, allowing for slimmer smartphones and enabling under-display fingerprint recognition, greatly enhancing user experience.2. They have faster response times.Many users have likely experienced that smartphones with LCD screens supporting a 144Hz refresh rate do not feel as smooth as those with OLED screens at 120Hz. OLED screens have an inherent advantage in response speed, making them ideal for dynamic visuals with lower motion blur. In scenarios involving fast-moving graphics, the experience with OLED screens is indeed superior.
3. They are more energy-efficient.This is another aspect that most users care about. Compared to LCD screens, OLED screens consume less power, which can indirectly extend the battery life of smartphones. Moreover, when displaying completely black images, their power consumption is only 10% of that of LCD screens. This is why many OLED screen smartphones feature always-on displays, something that LCD screen phones cannot achieve.4. They have better color performance.This is also crucial. OLED screens generally cover a color gamut of over 98% DCI-P3, especially in HDR scenarios, presenting more realistic contrasts in brightness. The actual viewing experience is significantly better than that of LCD screens.
5. They have better viewing angles.Unlike LCD screens, OLED screens maintain color and brightness accuracy from any angle, while LCD screens often experience brightness and color shifts with changes in viewing angle.6. OLED screens have higher overall brightness.To be honest, some high-end LCD screens can achieve over 1000 nits of global peak brightness, but most manufacturers are reluctant to “invest” in such high-end LCD screens. In contrast, some OLED models can already reach over 2000 nits of global peak brightness, with local peak brightness exceeding 6000 nits. Under strong outdoor light, the visibility of OLED screens is significantly better.
Next, let’s discuss a few aspects where OLED screens are not as good as LCD screens, although these areas have seen significant improvements, and their impact on user experience is now minimal.The first is resolution. Due to the standard RGB arrangement, LCD screens generally have higher clarity at the same size and resolution compared to OLED screens. However, this is not a major issue, as OLED screens can also achieve higher clarity by increasing resolution. By 2025, the vast majority of OLED screen smartphones will feature resolutions above 1.5K, with PPI exceeding 440. Even accounting for losses, their actual PPI can reach above 350, making it difficult for the naked eye to discern pixelation.
The second issue is lifespan. Four to five years ago, OLED screens were indeed prone to “burn-in” phenomena, but in recent smartphones released over the past two years, this issue has become rare. Through years of optimization and iteration, the lifespan of OLED screens is no longer a concern. Even after five to six years of use, burn-in phenomena are unlikely to occur.
The third issue is the eye protection aspect that LCD enthusiasts insist on. Most LCD screens use true global DC dimming, which does not flicker and is indeed less likely to cause visual fatigue, giving them an inherent advantage over OLED screens.However, we must also recognize that new OLED screen models have made significant efforts in eye protection, adopting low-brightness high-frequency PWM dimming, high-brightness DC-like solutions, and full-brightness high-frequency PWM dimming solutions, along with lower blue light emissions, resulting in overall decent eye protection.Considering all aspects, the advantages of OLED screens are hard to catch up with, and their disadvantages have improved significantly. Compared to LCD screens, they are indeed more favored by manufacturers and consumers. I estimate that in the future, LCD screens will likely be completely eliminated from models priced above a thousand yuan, with only some budget phones using LCD screens for cost considerations. This is the trend!