What Is An LTPO Display, And Is It Better Than An OLED?
Deep dive into technology
Wouldn’t it be great to make smartphones more energy efficient and get more out of them per charge? That’s exactly the idea behind the LTPO display technology used by Apple and Samsung. Here’s what you can expect from the touchscreens of tomorrow.
What is an LTPO screen?
LTPO stands for low-temperature polycrystalline oxide and refers to a special type of backplane technology that appears on OLED displays. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode, a unique type of self-emitting screen found in everything from smartwatches to smartphones and larger consumer screens. OLED displays typically use low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) for the thin-film transistors (TFTs) that make up the display’s backplane.
Using LTPS and gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO), Apple can use LTPS and LTPO technologies to deliver new benefits while maintaining manufacturing viability. All to produce screens capable of changing refresh rates. Apple technically used this display technology in the Apple Watch Series 4, but the real benefits weren’t seen until the Apple Watch Series 5 was launched with the screen always on.
LTPO is a breakthrough because it does not require additional components between the display controller and the graphics processing unit (GPU) to enable dynamic refresh rates. Although LTPO is a technology developed by Apple (for which it owns patents), Samsung is also working on a similar display technology that will not require it to pay licensing fees to one of its major competitors. Samsung’s version is known as Polycrystalline Silicon Hybrid Oxide (HOP.)
What are the benefits of LTPO?
Your smartphone screen uses more power than any other component. Although OLED displays are more efficient than their LCD counterparts, they still consume a large portion of battery life compared to other components like system-on-chip or wireless technologies like Wi-Fi. And Bluetooth. The main advantage of LTPO is to reduce this power consumption by changing the refresh rate.
This is exactly how Apple created the Apple Watch Series 5 (and its successors). Apple’s latest wearables have always-on displays while maintaining all-day battery life. The term “refresh rate” refers to the number of display updates per second, measured in hertz (Hz). Most smartphones use 60Hz displays, although there are 120Hz models (and Apple makes an iPad “ProMotion” that uses the highest refresh rate). A higher refresh rate allows for faster response and a smoother user experience at the expense of power efficiency.
By changing the refresh rate to as low as 1 Hz (essentially one frame per second), as per Apple’s latest portable devices, energy can be saved because the screen makes fewer demands and changes the screen content. For example, when your phone receives a notification, it turns on and notifies you. During this period, it is unlikely that there will be any moving objects on the screen. By reducing the refresh rate, the user experience is not compromised.
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When you check the notification by picking up the phone, the refresh rate can be reset to a more suitable frequency for general use. This technology can be used dynamically throughout the operating system. For example, if your device displays a podcast or music on the “Now Playing” screen, the display refresh rate can be significantly reduced.
If Apple provided the means, in theory, games that take advantage of high refresh rates could “ask” to use the full 120 Hz.
Since Apple runs a tight ship regarding an organized user experience, the company may “use” more efficient refresh rates in certain circumstances, such as when viewing a lock screen or making a call. Apple’s FaceID cameras can already detect when you’re looking at the screen, so it’s possible to lower refresh rates when the operating system sees no one is looking.
What devices use LTPO displays?
The first device to take advantage of LTPO was the Apple Watch Series 5. The smartwatch made waves when the company announced “always on” display technology, with refresh rates of up to 1 Hz. Apple has yet to merge its wearable LTPO technology with the iPad Pro’s high refresh rate display type. Still, in March 2021, major leaks suggested that the company is considering adding the technology to the iPhone shortly.
Meanwhile, LTPO displays using Samsung HOP technology are already in the wild. These screens have been limited to flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Anandtech’s analysis of the display used in the S21 Ultra saw a “huge efficiency improvement” in power consumption.
The next step forward
LTPO technology represents another step forward for portable devices such as smartphones and wearables. These improvements are not visible in terms of visibly improved display quality but offer efficiency gains that should help improve battery life.
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References:
PCWORLD, oled-info.com, digitaltrends.com, indianexpress.com, utmel.com
