Today Samsung Display Company (SDC) announces the introduction and mass production of a new generation of OLED panels called “Eco2OLED”. While the news here is rather short, it is actually a massive technical feat and a change from previous generation OLED panel technologies, as the new panel type is made without the classic polarizing layer between the actual panel and the cover glass.
In a traditional OLED panel, the actual panel itself is copper-colored, which obviously does not work very well to show Black. To create a reflective black, screens use polarizing layers that prevent light from entering and reflecting on the screen, allowing only light generated by the screen itself to pass through the glass. The problem with such layers is that they are of reduced transmission, and the polarizer itself is eating some of the light emitted by the panel. The image above, for example, is the cover and polarizing glass of an old Galaxy S7, which looks noticeably darker than the illuminated background.
Samsung is explaining that they have managed to get rid of this polarizing layer, and are able to have non-reflective OLED panels that are shown as black. This is a major change in the display stack, and Samsung is citing that they are able to improve transmittance by a massive 33%, which means 33% brighter displays, or at the same brightness, reduce power consumption by 25%. Photo: xda-developers
These figures are huge, and should represent one of the biggest jumps in energy efficiency at OLED since its inception.
Samsung Display Company (SDC) claims that the Eco2OLED is already in use on Samsung Mobile’s Galaxy Z Fold3, meaning that this should be the first phone to be able to take advantage of the technology. Along with this year’s widespread adoption of LTPO panels that have significantly improved energy efficiency, this could signal a new big leap in the energy efficiency of smartphones and help improve the battery life of devices that adopt the technology.
