LCD, thousand-yuan machine is not used

Ray Technology

2024-05-11 20:24Published in Guangdong science and technology creators

Remember the new iPad Pro that was released a few days ago? One of the biggest upgrades is the switch from LCD panels (MiniLED backlights) to OLEDs. Just today, Xiao Lei also saw a piece of news, that is, Yonhap News Agency said that LG Display is accelerating the sale of its last LCD panel factory:

Announcing a full shift to OLED.

As a third-generation display technology, the trend of OLED replacing LCD has actually started a long time ago, and some people have long threatened that OLED will replace LCD as the absolute mainstream. However, the best way to reflect the loss of LCD glory and OLED sweeping the world may be to look back at the mobile phones we use most often.

Beginning in 2017, flagship phones, such as the iPhone X, quickly came standard with OLED screens. Even though the voice of "LCD will never be a slave" has been continuous, a large number of mid-range products have gradually abandoned LCD screens and replaced them with OLED.

Until today, many people may have discovered that even if there are mainstream brand models in the early 1000 yuan, you can hardly see the LCD screen, and there is no LCD mobile phone to choose from. For example, the iQOO Z8 was also equipped with what was claimed to be "the most powerful LCD in the history of iQOO" last year, and the iQOO Z9, which was just released not long ago, also gave up the LCD.

iQOO Z9,图/iQOO

From flagship phones to thousand-dollar machines, there is no doubt that LCD phones are coming to an end, but how exactly did LCD get to this point? Is the ending really irreversible?

The disappearance of the LCD thousand-yuan machine makes the LCD party election unavailable

If we talk about the mobile phone market in 2023, there are two thousand-yuan machines - the Redmi Note 12T Pro and iQOO Z8 are equipped with both Dimensity 8200 and a decent LCD screen.

By 2024, there is still no decent LCD thousand-yuan machine.

The newly released iQOO Z9 opts for a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and a 1.5K OLED screen, with a starting price of the same as the previous Z8, which is still starting at 1599 yuan. Although there is also a lower-positioned Z9x equipped with an LCD screen, the combination of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and the neglect of publicity make it difficult to become the choice of the LCD party.

On the other hand, although it is not yet certain whether the Redmi Note 12T Pro will have a follow-up model, Xiaomi released the Redmi Note 13 series at the beginning of this year, with a lower positioning than the former, and the standard version is equipped with MediaTek Dimensity 6020, with a starting price of 1099 yuan, which is also equipped with:

"OLED Flexible Vertical Screen".

Redmi Note 13, photo/Xiaomi

This trend is not unexpected. In fact, in 2020, we can still see the K30S Ultra and Xiaomi 10T, which are sub-flagship products with LCD screens, and then the positioning of LCD mobile phones has been declining, leaving the LCD party with optional models, which have almost disappeared.

The following are LCD mobile phones that have a certain selling point and product power in the past few years, according to the incomplete statistics of Lei Technology:

- 2020 年，K30S 至尊纪念版、小米 10T、iPhone SE 2、夏普 AQUOS R5G；

- 2021 年,荣耀 X30 Max、iQOO Neo5 活力版/SE、Redmi Note 10 Pro、moto edge X30;

- 2022 年：iPhone SE 3、OPPO K10、一加 Ace 竞速版、Redmi Note 11T；

- 2023 年，Redmi Note 12T Pro、iQOO Z8；

- In 2024, not yet.

Of course, this is not to say that there will not be a thousand-yuan LCD phone in 2024. However, unlike the previous ones that are worth mentioning in terms of configuration and price, and unlike the previous manufacturers who will emphasize "reviving the glory of LCD", in 2024, no mainstream manufacturers and users still care about LCD.

Photo / Xiaomi

The shortcomings of LCD have been talked about a lot, and most of them are actually the reduction of thickness and weight, as well as the improvement of display effects such as contrast. But the most paradoxical thing is that some users who used to shout "LCD will never be slaves" have also lost their voices.

The simplest answer is: the experience has changed.

Today's OLED, no matter how you look at it, is a better choice

In addition to the longevity of OLED organic materials, one of the biggest controversies is various display problems at low brightness, such as rag screens, low-frequency PWM dimming is more irritating to the eyes, etc.

But with advances in materials and processes, many of the corner problems of OLEDs have been solved, or greatly improved, including the problem of low-frequency PWM dimming, which is a headache for many people.

Realme GT Neo6 is equipped with a first-class OLED screen, Tu/Lei Technology

To put it simply, PWM dimming essentially uses the visual lingering effect of the human eye to control the brightness of the OLED screen by turning on and off the frequency of the screen, but this also leads to the inevitable flickering or strobe of the screen. For a large number of sensitive users, such strobe has seriously affected eye comfort.

The low-frequency PWM dimming was once the "Achilles heel" of OLED in the eyes of many mobile phone users, and it has also become a strong reason for the LCD party to insist on LCD screens. In the process of exploring improvements, mobile phone manufacturers have even tried DC-like dimming, but the corresponding impact on the screen display effect is relatively large.

However, even this last "one kilometer" has been "opened" by domestic OLED manufacturers, and it has been directly hit from the flagship machine to the thousand-yuan machine.

Now open the product introduction page of the Redmi Note 13 (5G) on Xiaomi's official website, and you will see that even the Redmi Note 13, which costs a thousand yuan, is equipped with a flexible OLED screen that supports 120Hz, global excitation brightness of 1000nit, and hardware-level low blue light, and at the same time:

High-frequency PWM dimming at 1920Hz.

Photo / Xiaomi

Even OLED screens with LTPO technology are still high-frequency PWM dimming today. The solution of high-frequency PWM dimming can be said to have toppled the last barrier of OLED screens on mobile phones, coupled with the fact that various manufacturers are paying more and more attention to the "eye protection" performance of the screen, even the LCD party is difficult to refuse.

What's more, OLED also has better colors, unlimited contrast, and higher brightness.

In a word, OLED now makes up for a lot of the shortcomings of the past, and there are a lot of display advantages, plus the cost reduction brought about by the maturing process, no matter how you look at it, it is a better choice.

In contrast, if the large-size LCD products with Mini LED as the backlight still have a significant improvement in the display effect, the small-size LCD has barely improved, and the top-of-the-line LCD on the Redmi Note12T Pro has not actually surpassed the LCD screen on the iPhone 8 many years ago.

From this point of view, it is easy to understand why the voice of "LCD will never be a slave" is almost absent today, and manufacturers simply do not talk about "LCD glory".

Write at the end

The screen is arguably the most critical component of our mobile phones every day, and its importance has long been self-evident. However, whether it is LCD or OLED, it may be an extremely critical technical route for panel manufacturers, and an important part of product definition for mobile phone manufacturers, but for terminal consumers:

It's just a display technology, a means to achieve a better screen display.

In the final analysis, the display effect and actual experience are the focus that consumers should pay attention to, so a few years ago, LCD screens may have been a good choice, but today, LCD may really come to an end.

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