differences between OEM, OLED & LCD

Today, the iRepare team carried out an experiment to compare OLED and LCD screens to give you all the information about these screens.

With the release of the iPhone X, Apple introduced us to a new type of screen.

First, we will define the two types of screens and then compare them.

The LCD screen is a screen mainly composed of 4 different layers: the glass, the touch, the display and the backlight (light).

Concerning, the OLED screen is mainly composed of 3 layers: the glass, the touch and the display.

This results in the difference between the two screens: OLED no longer has a backlight layer because the display itself is the one which diffuses the light. Thus, it displays light only when necessary (for example: switching on the iPhone, we only see the apple in the middle which is displayed; the rest of the screen remains black without any light).

This saves as much battery as possible unlike the LCD which always lights up completely.

Color difference

Comparing the display color of the screens, there is no obvious difference between original and OEM OLEDs. But in comparison with LCD, the color of LCD screen is dark and not very sharp.

Difference in thickness

A. After measuring the thickness of the four screens after installation, we can see that the original is the thinnest screen, the second is the OEM. The LCD screen is thicker than the OLED.

B. We then measured the weight of the three screens. As you can see the OEM weighs 35.9g, the OLED weighs 37.5g, while the LCD weight is 44.7g.

C.IC module on OLED and OEM has strong similarity, but due to different screen technology, LCD screen is different from others as we can see in the following photo.

     Operational tests

A. In general, the 3D touch function on OEM, OLED and LCD works fine. However, this feature may not work with one finger when putting the phone on the desk for all screen types.

B. By dragging the app icon on the screen to test the touch function, OLED and OEM are similar, while LCD is less sensitive.

Conclusion:

For an end consumer, it can be difficult to see the differences but for professionals like at iRepare these small details remain visible.

After our various tests we conclude that the OLED screen is a slightly thinner screen due to its 3 layers compared to LCD with its 4 layers.

In addition, there is a difference in light, for OLED it is sharper than that of LCD.