- Post Publish: 2023-06-22
- Categories: Knowledge
- Updated:
- Posts by Mina Xiao
Difference between TFT and OLED screen
Mina Xiao
Latest Posts:
Table of contents:
In the market, there is a lot of confusion between LCD, TFT, IPS, and OLED. Of course, all of them are displays. OLED is one of the hottest concepts in the current display industry, and OLED itself has many advantages. For another concept in the real industry – TFT, perhaps not so many people know about it.
Today will introduce the difference between tft and oled screen. Through the comparison of the two, we can enhance our understanding of the two.
TFT
TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screen is a very mainstream display device at present. Each liquid crystal pixel on the TFT display is driven by a thin film transistor integrated behind the pixel; Each independent pixel on the screen is controlled, and the TFT display has the advantages of high responsiveness, high brightness, and high contrast.
TFT screen, which is also commonly used in mid-to-high-end color screen mobile phones, is divided into 65,536 colors, 260,000 colors, and 16 million colors. Its display effect is very good.
You may be interested in 49 inch screen, Digital signage for office, Interactive screen, kiosk screen related products
OLED
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is an organic light-emitting diode. OLED uses a very thin coating of organic materials and a glass substrate (or flexible organic substrate). When a current passes through, these organic materials will emit light. Those OLED advertising android display is driven by an electric field, and the organic semiconductor material and the light-emitting material are injected and recombined to realize light emission.
Pros
- Due to its light-emitting characteristic, OLED is thinner and lighter than LCD.
- Low power consumption and flexibility: OLED doesn’t rely on the backlight and consumes less power. OLED is essentially created on plastic film. It is bendable and easy to process.
- High contrast and vivid color: OLED emits light itself, and can produce very bright images with beautiful color. And because OLED can be turned off, it can produce a true black.
- Turning LED on and off is faster than liquid crystal twisting, OLED’s response time is shorter than LCD.
Cons
- OLED could have image retention (burn-in) problems. It is the gradual degradation of pixels, after showing static images for a long period of time.
- Stroboscopic effect: most OLED screen uses PWM dimming technology. Some people who are easy perceive stroboscopic frequency may have sore eyes and tears.
- Organic material that produces blue light has a shorter lifetime. This leads to OLED color shifting and a shorter lifespan.
Comparison Of TFT and OLED screen:
Light Emission
OLED displays naturally emit light, so using them on a display panel doesn’t require a backlight. Meanwhile, TFT need backlights because the liquid crystals cannot create light on their own. OLED’s natural light emission also paves the way for creating lighter screen devices than those using TFT LCD displays.
Brightness
TFT displays are brighter than OLED. This is due to the TFT use of backlights that can brightly light up the entire screen. While OLEDs emit good brightness levels from their light, they can never match the brightness that LCD backlights have.
Black Levels
OLED wins in the black levels feature. It’s because OLEDs can perfectly turn off a pixel, causing it to become completely black. TFT can’t create perfect black screens even with their full-array local dimming feature. TFTs are also prone to blooming, where a bright part spoils the darkness of an adjacent black area.
Viewing Angle
OLED screens have better viewing angles than TFT displays. Some TFTs improve their viewing angles by using in-plane switching panels (IPS). However, the clarity of images and videos can’t match that of OLEDs when viewed from extreme side angles. This is because TFTs inherently block light due to their filtering layers, and that creates added depth which makes LCD viewing angles limited.
Energy Consumption
TFT displays are a bit more energy-efficient than OLEDs. Energy consumption in OLED displays depends on the screen brightness. Less brightness used means lower power consumption, but this may not be ideal because the contrast ratio will suffer when brightness is reduced. This is not ideal if, for instance, you’re using an OLED smartphone under bright sunlight.
Meanwhile, the backlights form the bulk of power consumption in TFT displays. Putting the backlight to a lower setting significantly improves the energy efficiency of TFT displays. For instance, reducing the backlight brightness of an LCD TV with a LED backlight won’t affect the picture quality but will draw less power consumption than an OLED TV.
Con: Requires Separate Backlighting.
TFT LCDs don’t feature self-illuminating pixels. As a result, they require separate backlighting. Backlighting is needed to illuminate the liquid pixels within a TFT LCD. TFT LCDs feature a layer of liquid pixels.