You must be familiar with LCD and AMOLED display, but have you ever wondered what they are and what are the differences between them? Let’s have a look!

LCD and AMOLED display: What are the differences?

First of all, between LCD and AMOLED, let’s talk about LCD first. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is a technology that produces images and colors only from a backlight, which is mostly blue LED backlight. This light goes through several layers (two polarizers, two glass plates and one color filter) before it reaches the surface of the screen. The liquid crystal is located between the two glass plates. This crystal is in charge of controlling the light that goes through it. To be more specific, the liquid crystal adjusts the angle of the light depending on the voltage applied to it. Then finally, a red, green, or blue color filter is applied to this light, and these sub-pixels are grouped into pixels to adjust colors across the display.

Then we have AMOLED display (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode). Different from LCD display, this technology produces images and colors from individual tiny pixels! The pixel is actually a micro Light Emitting Diode (LED) which is arranged in red, blue, green clusters. When the voltage is applied, these clusters will adjust their brightness in order to create the target color. When maximum brightness is reached, we have white color.

So overall while LCD produces images via a single big backlight going through a liquid crystal, AMOLED display show the pictures via countless single LEDs which are shrunk down into micro pixels. So between LCD and AMOLED, AMOLED display offers more lively-looking images, with wider range of colors, but the pictures on the LCD looks smoother and more natural.

LCD and AMOLED display: Which one is better?

There are still many debates on which one is better than the other. But I would say it depends! AMOLED display save more battery than the LCD. Because AMOLED display will turns off a percentage of the pixels when the target color is black, while in LCD, the backlight is always on. However, AMOLED display cannot be featured in foldable or flexible display, not to mention that smartphones with AMOLED screen are much more expensive! So between LCD and AMOLED, which one is your choice?