So you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, or perhaps are looking to buy one, and have seen the term Super AMOLED display bandied about. What is it, what makes it different from any other type of display and what benefits does it give a Samsung smartphone?
Samsung are notable (or rather notorious) for their techno-babble and truth be told, Super AMOLED and other derivations of it, are simply marketing terms to differentiate the screen from other types.
Once you dip beneath the surface (or screen), you’ll realise they are not all that different from similarly named displays.
What is a Super AMOLED display?
Before explaining what Super AMOLED is, it’s worth describing what AMOLED is. AMOLED is a type of OLED screen technology that stands for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode. An AMOLED features OLED pixels with thin strips of thin-film-transistors behind them. These strips help the electric current move quicker across the display to enable a faster refresh rate, making the displays more responsive and reactive.
Super AMOLED is mainly a marketing term, but it describes a display that features an integrated touch function that’s embedded into the screen rather than on top of it. This has the effect of not only making the screen thinner but making the screen easier to view when faced with direct sunlight.
Super AMOLED also sports wide range of colours, and with its 100,000:1 contrast ratio it can show deeper black levels, and that should help improve the device’s HDR performance. One example of a smartphone with a Super AMOLED screen is the Galaxy S20 FE.
Another term worth mentioning with regards to Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones is Dynamic AMOLED. It’s an AMOLED screen that reduces the amount of harmful blue light emitted from the display to reduce eye strain, a feature that’s also useful if you’re using the phone at night. The screen supports HDR10+ certification for “cinema-grade colour and contrast”. Devices like the Galaxy Note 10 series and Galaxy Z Flip are examples of a Dynamic AMOLED display.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
