Galaxy S7 OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out

Samsung Galaxy S7

Galaxy S7 Edge

Dr. Raymond M. Soneira

President, DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

Copyright © 1990-2016 by DisplayMate Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge

Introduction

The key element for a great Smartphone has always been a truly innovative and top performing display, and the best leading edge Smartphones have always flaunted their super high tech displays. It is the display performance that determines how good and how beautiful everything on the Smartphone looks, including camera photos, and also how usable and how readable the screen remains in high ambient lighting. It is the crown jewel of the Smartphone.

The new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are Samsung’s new flagship Smartphones with OLED displays. The Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note series are how they show off their latest OLED displays and display technology. They have been alternately releasing one of these models every six months, so there are two OLED generations per year. Each new generation has provided significant enhancements and improvements, so they leapfrog each other in display performance, resulting in a new Best Performing Display with each new generation. As a result, OLEDs have developed into excellent high performance displays.

This article is an independent objective scientific analysis of OLED displays written for consumers and journalists. It is the latest edition in our six year article series that has tracked and analyzed the development of mobile OLED displays and display technology, from its early beginnings in 2010, when OLED displays started out in last place, into a rapidly improving and evolving display technology that now has a commanding first place lead and continues pushing ahead aggressively. There is no better confirmation of this than a series of recent well founded rumors from a number of prominent publications that Apple will be switching the iPhone to OLED displays in 2018, or possibly 2017 for premium models. More on this topic on the Future of OLED Smartphones in the Conclusions.

Overview

Samsung provided us with pre-announcement early production units so we could publish our comprehensive display tests and analysis during the Mobile World Congress.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are two versions of Samsung’s latest OLED display technology. The Galaxy S7 has a 5.1 inch high resolution Quad HD 2560x1440 pixel display with 577 pixels per inch on a hard glass substrate. While its screen size and resolution remain the same as the Galaxy S6, its display has significantly improved performance that we will cover below.

The Galaxy S7 Edge display is similar to the Galaxy S7, but it has a curved screen OLED display that is manufactured on a flexible plastic substrate so that it can bend around the corners on both the sides of the phone to provide two display areas that can be viewed and controlled from both the front or the sides, which is especially useful for viewing notifications and scrolling news items. The Galaxy S7 Edge has a somewhat larger 5.5 inch screen, but has the same 2560x1440 resolution with 535 pixels per inch.

Our detailed Lab tests show there have been a number of significant display performance improvements for the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge including a much higher maximum brightness and contrast in high ambient light, together with a significantly improved Automatic Brightness that provides much better screen visibility in high ambient light, all resulting in a number of new records for Smartphone display performance, and delivering absolutely stunning and beautiful images.

We’ll cover these issues and much more, with in-depth comprehensive display tests, measurements and analysis that you will find nowhere else.

What’s New

I’m glad that Samsung decided to keep the Galaxy S7 screen size and resolution the same as on the Galaxy S6, because they look perfectly sharp (for normal 20/20 human vision) under all normal viewing conditions, so it was pointless to increase them. Samsung has instead concentrated on increasing the display’s maximum brightness and improving its performance in ambient light, which has real demonstrable and easy to see visual benefits that every consumer will immediately appreciate. We’ll compare the displays on the Galaxy S7 to the Galaxy S6 and the flagship Galaxy Note 5 in detail below.

Both of the new Galaxy smartphones have a new interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that learns and remembers the display brightness settings that you set for different ambient light levels so you get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other smartphones, tablets, and TVs. There is also a new Always On Display mode that will show various personalized clock, calendar, status messages, notifications, and images on the main screen whenever the phone is off (in standby), which is possible with very low power on an OLED. We’ll examine these and other display improvements in the New Display Highlights and Results Highlights sections below.

The Display Shoot-Out

To examine the performance of the new Galaxy OLED Displays we ran our in-depth series of Mobile Display Technology Shoot-Out Lab tests and measurements in order to determine how the latest OLED displays have improved. We take display quality very seriously and provide in-depth objective analysis based on detailed laboratory tests and measurements and extensive viewing tests with both test patterns, test images and test photos. To see how far OLED and LCD mobile displays have progressed in just six years see our 2010 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out, and for a real history lesson see our original 2006 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out.

Samsung provided DisplayMate Technologies with pre-release early production units of the Galaxy S7 so that we could perform our well known objective and comprehensive DisplayMate Lab tests, measurements, and analysis, explaining the in-depth display performance results for consumers, reviewers, and journalists. This article will focus primarily on the Galaxy S7, but we have also included a section covering the Galaxy S7 Edge.

New Galaxy S7 Display Highlights

While the Galaxy S7 screen size and resolution remain the same as the Galaxy S6, its display has been significantly improved for most display performance metrics.

Much Higher Display Brightness and Contrast in Ambient Light

The Galaxy S7 has a Maximum Brightness that is 24% higher than the Galaxy S6, which is a significant and visually noticeable improvement, particularly in high ambient light. The Contrast and Contrast Rating in High Ambient Light have also significantly improved. We’ll cover these in detail below.

Matches and then Leapfrogs the Galaxy Note 5 Display Performance

The 5.1 inch Galaxy S7 matches or exceeds all of the display performance metrics of Samsung’s flagship 5.7 inch Galaxy Note 5, but accomplishes that on a much smaller screen at a higher 577 pixels per inch (ppi) compared to 518 ppi on the Note 5. Since the Galaxy Note 5 pixels are 24% larger (in area) than the pixels on the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S7 pixels need to output at a 24% higher level in order to deliver the same brightness and performance. We’ll cover this in detail below.

New Interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that Works Well

One of my major long-term peeves has been how poorly the Automatic Brightness Controls work on all smartphones, tablets, and TVs. They don’t properly adjust the screen Brightness for the existing current level of ambient light properly. Sometimes the display is too bright and other times too dim. As a result many (and possibly most) people simply turn off Automatic Brightness and permanently park the Brightness at some fixed high level, which not only reduces the running time on battery, but also means the display brightness is once again set wrong most of the time. I covered this in detail back in 2010, with an article called BrightnessGate that described “How Automatic Brightness Should Work.” The Galaxy S7 has now implemented it, and is the first to do Automatic Brightness correctly!

The Galaxy S7 has a new interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that learns and stores the display brightness settings that you set for different ambient light levels, so from then on you get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other smartphones, tablets, and TVs. We’ll cover this in more detail below.

New Always On Display

An interesting function that first appeared on the Galaxy Note 4 Edge in 2014 was always keeping a portion of the OLED screen on when the phone is off (in standby), so certain content can be displayed all day and all night long, but with a very small power drain that has very little effect on the battery running time. This is possible on an OLED display with a mostly black background because every sub-pixel is independently powered, so black pixels and sub-pixels don’t use any power.

The new Always On Display mode shows various personalized clock, calendar, status messages, notifications, and images on the main screen when the phone is on standby. It measures the ambient light level and has both day and night modes, plus it’s smart enough to stay off when the phone display is face down, or it senses a dark confined space such as a pocket or handbag. The OLED display produces an illuminated main screen image 24 hours a day so you can always discreetly check it with just a glance. As a result, the OLED Always On Display will reduce the need for a smartwatch, which seems likely to become an endangered species. We’ll cover this in more detail below.

Can be Used with Polarized Sunglasses

Almost all displays emit polarized light. As a result, if you are wearing polarized sunglasses the display may appear dark or invisible in either the portrait or landscape orientations. This is almost always the case with LCDs and many manufacturers still seem oblivious to this problem, which I pointed out back in 2012 in this news article. But it’s still an issue – for example, with polarized sunglasses the iPhone 6 and 6s screens are significantly darkened in the normal portrait orientation (rather than in the less used landscape orientation). The ideal solution is to set the polarizer angle to 45 degrees so that the display is equally bright in both landscape and portrait orientations – unfortunately many LCD technologies can’t do that. OLED displays don’t emit polarized light, however, all of the Galaxy OLED displays (including the S6, S7, and Note 5) include a polarizer (as part of a Quarter Wave Plate) to significantly reduce screen Reflectance of ambient light, and… it’s oriented at the ideal 45 degree angle so you can watch the OLED screen with polarized sunglasses in both the portrait and landscape orientations!

Display Related Enhancements

· The Galaxy S7 is IP68 water and dust resistant like the Galaxy S5 (the Galaxy S6 was not), which means you can comfortably view the display in typical wet and outside conditions.

· The Galaxy S7 accepts a microSD card like the Galaxy S5 (the Galaxy S6 does not). This makes it easier to add large photo and video files.

· The Galaxy S7 has an 18 percent larger 3000 mAh battery compared to the 2550 mAh battery on the Galaxy S6. This should significantly increase the battery running time unless you insist on running the display close to its Maximum Brightness all the time.

Results Highlights

In this section we review and also explain the principal results from the DisplayMate Lab tests and measurements covered in the Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table under the following categories: Display Specifications, Overall Assessments, Screen Reflections, Brightness and Contrast, Colors and Intensities, Viewing Angles, OLED Spectra, Display Power.

You can skip this Results Highlights section and go directly to the Galaxy S7 Conclusions and the Galaxy S7 Edge Overview.

Systematically Improving OLED Displays

Samsung has been systematically improving OLED display performance twice a year with each Galaxy generation since 2010. With the Galaxy S7 there are many significant improvements over the Galaxy S6 that we tested a year ago, but also with the Galaxy Note 5 that we tested 6 months ago. The most immediately noticeable improvements for the Galaxy S7 are in Maximum Brightness and its performance in High Ambient Light, which we discuss in turn below.

2.5K Quad HD 2560x1440 Display

The Galaxy S7 has a 5.1 inch Quad HD 2560x1440 pixel display, currently the highest resolution for smartphones, with 3.7 Mega Pixels, almost double the number on your HDTV. It provides lots of image detail – it can display four complete HD 1280x720 images at once. The display has Diamond Pixels (see below) and Sub-Pixel Rendering with 577 pixels per inch (ppi), providing significantly higher image sharpness than can be resolved with normal 20/20 Vision at the typical viewing distances of 9 inches or more for smartphones, so the display appears perfectly sharp.

In addition, the Galaxy S7 uses Sub-Pixel Rendering, which further improves image sharpness because the individual Red, Green and Blue Sub-Pixels are treated as independent addressable image elements and are not bound together into fixed Pixels, so the closest sub-pixel is used when rendering the image. In some cases Sub-Pixel Rendering can make the screen appear to have up to 3 times the resolution of traditional Pixel Rendering. See Diamond Pixels below.

I’m glad that Samsung decided to keep the Galaxy S7 resolution at 2560x1440 pixels with 577 ppi. The Galaxy S7 looks perfectly sharp (for normal 20/20 human vision) under all normal viewing conditions, which always includes some ambient lighting that always lowers the visible image contrast and perceived image sharpness (Modulation Transfer MTF) – note that displays are almost never viewed in absolute darkness under perfect viewing conditions with ideal image content. As a result, it is absolutely pointless to further increase the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi) for a marketing wild goose chase into the stratosphere… We’ll discuss this important issue and how to improve the Next Generation of Mobile Displays below.

Multiple Screen Modes and Color Management

One very important capability of the Galaxy Smartphones that is often overlooked by many consumers and reviewers, is the set of user selectable Screen Modes. Most Smartphones and Tablets only provide a single fixed factory display Color Gamut and color calibration, with no way for the user to alter it based on personal preferences, running applications, or Ambient Light levels. A very important capability provided by the OLED Galaxy Smartphones is the implementation of Color Management that provides a number of user selectable Screen Modes, each with different Color Gamuts and levels of Color Saturation and display calibration based on user and application preferences. Color Management with multiple and varying Color Gamuts are a very useful and important state-of-the-art capability that all manufacturers will need to provide in the future.

The Galaxy S7 has four user selectable Screen Modes: Adaptive Display, AMOLED Photo, AMOLED Cinema, and the Basic Screen Mode, which matches the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used for producing virtually all current consumer content. See this Figure for the Color Gamuts of the different tested Screen Modes and the Colors and Intensities section for measurements and details. Note that the Adaptive Display mode is the standard and factory default Screen Mode. Use Display Settings to switch between the three other available Screen Modes. We discuss each of the tested Screen Modes next…

Adaptive Display Screen Mode with a Wide Color Gamut

The Adaptive Display screen mode provides real-time adaptive processing to dynamically adjust images and videos – for some applications it will vary the White Point, Color Gamut, and Color Saturation based on the image content and the color of the surrounding ambient lighting measured by the Ambient Light Sensor (which measures color in addition to brightness). The Adaptive Display mode also delivers significantly higher Color Saturation, with a large 131 percent of the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut, among the highest that we have ever measured for Smartphones and Tablets. Some people like the extra saturated and vibrant colors, plus it is useful for special applications, and for viewing the display in medium to high levels of Ambient Light, because it offsets some of the reflected light glare that washes out the on-screen image colors.

AMOLED Photo Screen Mode with a Very Accurate Adobe RGB Color Gamut

Most high-end digital cameras have an option to use the Adobe RGB Color Gamut, which is 17 percent larger than the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut used in consumer cameras. The AMOLED Photo screen mode on the Galaxy S7 provides a very accurate calibration to the Adobe RGB standard, which is rarely available in consumers displays, and is very useful for high-end digital photography and other advanced imaging applications. The measured Absolute Color Accuracy of the AMOLED Photo screen mode for the Galaxy S7 is 1.6 JNCD, which is very high color accuracy. See this Figure for an explanation and visual definition of JNCD and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots showing the measured Color Errors for 41 Reference Colors distributed throughout the entire Color Gamut. There are very few consumer displays that can accurately reproduce the Adobe RGB Gamut, so this is a significant plus for serious photography enthusiasts. See the Color Accuracy section and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots for measurements and details.

Basic Screen Mode with a Very Accurate Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut

The Basic screen mode provides a very accurate Color and White Point calibration for the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used to produce virtually all current consumer content for digital cameras, TVs, the internet, and computers, including photos, videos, and movies. The Color Gamut of the Basic screen mode is very accurate, with a nearly perfect 101 percent of the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut. Even better, the measured Absolute Color Accuracy for the Galaxy S7 Basic screen mode is an impressive 1.5 JNCD, tied with the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 for the most color accurate displays that we have ever measured for a smartphone or tablet, which is visually indistinguishable from perfect, and is very likely considerably better than your living room TV.

See this Figure for a color accurate rendering of the Color Gamut and an explanation and visual definition of JNCD with detailed Color Accuracy Plots showing how the Galaxy S7 reproduces the 41 Reference Colors distributed throughout the entire Color Gamut, and also this regarding Bogus Color Accuracy Measurements. This article on Absolute Color Accuracy includes in-depth measurements and analysis of visual color accuracy for six flagship Smartphones and Tablets.

Use the Basic screen mode for the best color and image accuracy, which is especially important when viewing photos from family and friends (because you often know exactly what they actually should look like), for some TV shows, movies, and sporting events with image content and colors that you are familiar with, and also for viewing online merchandise, so you have a very good idea of exactly what colors you are buying and are less likely to return them. See the Color Accuracy section and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots for measurements and details.

Screen Brightness and Performance in High Ambient Lighting

Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright ambient lighting, which washes out the image color saturation and contrast, reducing picture quality and making it harder to view or read the screen. To be usable in high ambient light a display needs a dual combination of high Screen Brightness and low screen Reflectance – the Galaxy S7 has both. For most image content the Galaxy S7 provides over 440 cd/m2 (Luminance, which is a measure of Brightness sometimes called nits), comparable or higher than most LCD displays in this size class. Its Screen Reflectance is 4.6 percent, close to the lowest that we have ever measured for a smartphone. Our Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light quantitatively measures screen visibility and image contrast under bright Ambient Lighting – the higher the better. As a result of its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy S7 has a Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light that ranges from 88 to 118, among the highest that we have ever measured for a smartphone.

Higher Automatic Brightness

More importantly, on the Galaxy S7 the Maximum Brightness can go much higher when Automatic Brightness is turned On, so that users can’t permanently park the Manual Brightness slider to very high values, which would run down the battery quickly. High Screen Brightness is only needed for High Ambient Light, so turning Automatic Brightness On will provide better high ambient light screen visibility and also longer battery running time.

When Automatic Brightness is turned On, the Galaxy S7 produces up to an impressive 855 cd/m2 (nits) in High Ambient Light, where high Brightness is really needed – it is tied with the Galaxy Note 5 for the brightest mobile display that we have ever tested. As a result of its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy S7 has a Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light that ranges from 119 to186, also the highest that we have ever measured for a Smartphone display. See the Brightness and Contrast, the High Ambient Light and the Screen Reflections sections for measurements and details.

Interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness that Works Well

The Galaxy S7 has a new interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that learns and stores the display brightness settings that you make for varying ambient light levels, so from then on you get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other smartphones, tablets, and TVs. It is the first smartphone, tablet, or TV to do Automatic Brightness correctly. When Automatic Brightness is turned On (under Display Settings), if you adjust the Brightness Slider, the Galaxy S7 will remember your setting along with the current ambient light level that is measured by its Ambient Light Sensor (ALS), which is located next to the front facing camera just above the top of the display. From then on the Galaxy S7 will automatically adjust the screen Brightness by measuring the current ambient light level and then adjusting the screen Brightness based on the settings you’ve previously made, so you’ll get a customized screen Brightness setting that you’ve previously trained it to produce for the current level of ambient light – and you can continue to tweak and adjust it as needed.

Super Dimming Mode

The Galaxy S7 also has a Super Dimming Mode that allows the Maximum Screen Brightness to be set all the way down to just 2 cd/m2 (nits) using the Brightness Slider. This is perfect for night use on a beside table, and useful for working comfortably without eye strain or bothering others in very dark environments, or affecting the eye’s dark adaptation, such as when using a telescope. The display still delivers full 24-bit color and the picture quality remains excellent.

Always On Display Mode

The new Always On Display Mode takes advantage of the low power capability of an OLED display whenever most of the image pixels are black, because every sub-pixel is independently powered, and therefore doesn’t use any power when black. So when the phone is off (in standby) it is possible to always display some text and graphics on a black background all day and all night without a significant power drain that would reduce the battery running time. The Always On Display mode uses only 50 to 90 mW (milli-Watts).

The Always On Display on the Galaxy S7 shows various personalized clock, calendar, status messages, notifications, and images on the main screen when the phone is in standby. It measures the ambient light level and has both day and night modes, and it will stay off when the phone display is face down, or it senses a dark confined space like a pocket or handbag. The display is updated once a minute for both content and brightness. The day mode has a Luminance of 60 nits on a black background, which is very readable but not distracting for normal indoor ambient lighting, and visible outdoors if you shade the screen with your hand. The night mode is entered for very low ambient light levels of 2 lux or less and runs like the Super Dimming Mode with 2 nits, so it won’t distract you if it’s on your bedside table. The OLED display produces an illuminated main screen image 24 hours a day so you can always discreetly check it with just a glance. As a result, the OLED Always On Display will reduce the need for a smartwatch, which seems likely to become an endangered species.

Diamond Pixels

A high resolution screen shot (provided by Samsung) shows an interesting design and sub-pixel arrangement for the Galaxy S7, which Samsung calls Diamond Pixels. First of all, the Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels have very different sizes – Blue is by far the largest because it has the lowest light emission efficiency, and Green is by far the smallest because it has the highest efficiency. The alternating Red and Blue sub-pixel arrangement leads to a 45 degree diagonal symmetry in the sub-pixel layout. This allows vertical, horizontal, and particularly diagonal line segments and vectors to be drawn with reduced aliasing and artifacts. In order to maximize the sub-pixel packing and achieve the highest possible pixels per inch (ppi), that leads to diamond rather than square or stripe shaped Red and Blue sub-pixels. But not for the Green sub-pixels, which are oval shaped because they are squeezed between two much larger and different sized Red and Blue sub-pixels. It’s a form of high-tech display art…

Display Power Efficiency

Since 2013 the Power Efficiency of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series of smartphones has improved by a very impressive 56%. However, this year the Power Efficiency has remained the same between the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7.

While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with mostly full screen white content (like all text screens on a white background, for example), OLEDs are more power efficient for typical mixed image content because they are emissive displays so their power varies with the Average Picture Level (average Brightness) of the image content over the entire screen. For OLEDs, Black pixels and sub-pixels don’t use any power so screens with Black backgrounds are very power efficient for OLEDs. For LCDs the display power is fixed and independent of image content. Currently, OLED displays are more power efficient than LCDs for Average Pictures Levels of 65 percent or less, and LCDs are more power efficient for Average Picture Levels above 65 percent. Since both technologies are continuing to improve their power efficiencies, the crossover will continue to change with time.

The Always On Display is super power efficient because most of the image pixels are black, so it typically requires only 3 to 5 percent of the maximum display power. In addition, the Galaxy S7 also has an Ultra Power Saving Mode that lowers the screen Brightness and also sets the background to Black, both of which significantly reduce display power and can double the running time on battery. See the Display Power section for measurements and details.

Viewing Angle Performance

While smartphones are primarily single viewer devices, the variation in display performance with viewing angle is still very important because single viewers frequently hold the display at a variety of viewing angles. The angle is often up to 30 degrees, more if it is resting on a table or desk. While LCDs typically experience a 55 percent or greater decrease in Brightness at a 30 degree Viewing Angle, the OLED Galaxy S7 display shows a much smaller 28 percent decrease in Brightness at 30 degrees. This also applies to multiple side-by-side viewers as well, and is a significant advantage of OLED displays. The Color Shifts with Viewing Angle are also relatively small. See the Viewing Angles section for measurements and details.

Viewing Tests

The Galaxy S7 Basic screen mode provides very nice, pleasing and very accurate colors and picture quality. Although the Image Contrast is slightly too high (due to a slightly too steep Intensity Scale), the very challenging set of DisplayMate Test and Calibration Photos that we use to evaluate picture quality looked absolutely stunning and Beautiful, even to my experienced hyper-critical eyes. The Basic screen mode is the most color accurate mode and is recommended for indoor and low ambient light viewing of standard consumer content for digital camera, TV, internet, and computer content, including photos, videos, and movies, and also for your online purchases in order to see accurate product colors. The Adaptive Display screen mode has significantly more vibrant and saturated colors. Some people like that. It is also recommended for viewing in medium to high levels of ambient light because it offsets some of the reflected light glare that washes out the image colors.

Galaxy S7 Edge Overview

Along with the Galaxy S7, Samsung is introducing the Galaxy S7 Edge, which is almost identical to the Galaxy S7 except that it has a very innovative curved OLED display that extends and bends around to both the right and left side edges of the phone. The curved Galaxy S7 Edge provides two additional configurable display areas that can be viewed from both the front or the sides, or when the phone is placed face down. The Galaxy S7 Edge has a somewhat larger 5.5 inch screen, but has the same 2560x1440 resolution with 535 pixels per inch. The Galaxy S7 Edge has the same display performance measurements and metrics as the Galaxy S7, and also all of the same display functions and features as well, plus a number of additional ones for the curved Edge.

The Galaxy S7 Edge is actually a flexible OLED display manufactured on a flexible plastic substrate rather than on a traditional perfectly flat and hard screen like almost all other OLED (and LCD) displays. This allows the display itself to bend, but it is then placed underneath a hard Gorilla Glass 4 cover for protection and to maintain its desired shape, which for the Galaxy S7 Edge is curved along the entire right and left side edges.

The curved Galaxy S7 Edge screen provides quick access to apps, widgets, menus, options, plus a rotating carrousel of edge screens that you can swipe and flip through with your finger to see the time, weather, color coded notifications like incoming and missed calls, messages and Emails, plus active news feeds that continuously scroll along the Edge. The curved Edge screen provides an important User Interface enhancement for Smartphones. It’s quite functional and useful, and even fun watching and cycling through the various Edge screens.

In addition to the Always On Display for the main screen, the Galaxy S7 Edge has a side night clock that will dimly show the time all night long on the Edge screen (using very little power because only a small section of the OLED screen is active) so it’s also a nice alarm clock as well.

Galaxy S7 Edge Conclusions

What is especially news worthy and significant is that the performance of the OLED display on a flexible plastic substrate for the Galaxy S7 Edge is now essentially the same as on a traditional glass substrate for the Galaxy S7, even at 500+ pixels per inch and 2560x1440 resolution. The most important point is that curved and flexible displays are definitely the wave of the future because they offer many important visual and functional advantages for both mobile displays and TVs as explained in our 2014 Innovative Displays and Display Technology article. Follow DisplayMate on Twitter to learn about our Galaxy Note and upcoming display technology coverage.

Galaxy S7 Conclusions: A Very Impressive Smartphone Display…

The primary goal of this Display Technology Shoot-Out article series has always been to publicize and promote display excellence so that consumers, journalists and even manufacturers are aware of and appreciate the very best in displays and display technology. We point out which manufactures and display technologies are leading and advancing the state-of-the-art for displays by performing comprehensive and objective scientific Lab tests and measurements together with in-depth analysis. We point out who is leading, who is behind, who is improving, and sometimes (unfortunately) who is back pedaling… all based solely on the extensive objective careful Lab measurements that we also publish, so that everyone can judge the data for themselves as well…

The Conclusions below summarize all the principal results. See the main Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table for the complete DisplayMate Lab measurements and test details, and the Results Highlights and the Galaxy S7 Edge Overview sections above for a more detailed introduction and overview with expanded discussions and explanations.

OLED Display Evolution

What is particularly significant and impressive is that Samsung has been systematically improving OLED display performance with every Galaxy generation since 2010, when we started tracking OLED displays. The first notable OLED Smartphone, the Google Nexus One, came in decidedly last place in our 2010 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out. In a span of just six years OLED display technology is now challenging and even exceeding the performance of the best LCDs. The Galaxy S7 continues this impressive systematic improvement in OLED displays and technology.

The Best Smartphone Display

While the Galaxy S7 screen size and resolution remain the same as the Galaxy S6, its has been significantly improved for most display performance metrics. The most noticeable one is a Maximum Brightness that is 24% higher than the Galaxy S6, which is quite a significant improvement in high ambient light. The Contrast and Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light have also significantly improved.

Leapfrogs the Galaxy Note 5

The display on the Galaxy S7 matches and even exceeds the performance of Galaxy Note 5 that we tested in 2015 and rated it as the Best Performing Smartphone Display that we had ever tested. This is a particularly significant enhancement because the 5.1 inch Galaxy S7 display is considerably smaller so the display components had to be scaled down by 20 percent in area from the larger 5.7 inch Galaxy Note 5, and then still deliver the same Maximum Brightness from the smaller pixels.

New on the Galaxy S7

The Galaxy S7 introduces two important display enhancements. There is a new interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that learns and remembers the display brightness settings that you set for various ambient light levels so you get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other smartphones, tablets, and TVs. This not only improves the screen readability in ambient light but also the running time on battery because you’ll just see the screen Brightness levels that you need. It is the first smartphone, tablet, or TV to do Automatic Brightness correctly. And there is also a new Always On Display mode that will show various personalized clock, calendar, status messages, notifications and images on the main screen whenever the phone is off (in standby), all day and all night, which can be done with very low power on an OLED, so you can always discreetly check it with just a glance. As a result, the OLED Always On Display will reduce the need for a smartwatch, which seems likely to become an endangered species. Finally, all of the Galaxy OLED displays can be used with polarized sunglasses in both the portrait and landscape orientations, unlike almost all LCDs.

The Galaxy S7 matches or breaks new records in Smartphone display performance for:

Highest Absolute Color Accuracy (1.5 JNCD), Highest Peak Brightness (855 nits), Highest Contrast Rating in Ambient Light (186), Highest Screen Resolution (2560x1440), Highest (infinite) Contrast Ratio, and Smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle (28 percent). In addition, almost every display lab test and measurement shows some improvements compared to the Galaxy S6. See the main Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table for all of the measurements and details.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note 5 are neck-and-neck record holders for display performance, effectively tied or alternating between first and second place in almost all categories except screen size for the much larger Galaxy Note 5, and the much higher pixels per inch for the Galaxy S7. What is especially impressive is that the overall display specs and performance of the Galaxy S7 have been maintained or improved after being scaled down by 20 percent in area from the Galaxy Note 5. So… as the result of its even higher ppi, the Galaxy S7 becomes the Best Performing Smartphone Display that we have ever tested.

Performance Summary and The Future

Below we summarize some of the major display performance highlights for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.

Then we discuss The Future of OLED Smartphones and Improving the Next Generation of Mobile Displays.

Galaxy S7 Edge and Flexible OLED Displays

The Galaxy S7 Edge is Samsung’s fifth generation of flexible OLED display. It has the same display performance measurements and metrics as the Galaxy S7, and also all of the same display functions and features as well, plus a number of additional ones. The curved edge screen provides an important User Interface enhancement for Smartphones that we have described above. It is quite functional and useful, and even fun watching and cycling through the various Edge screens. Flexible OLEDs are at the cutting edge and future of OLED technology. See the Galaxy S7 Edge Overview section above for more details. The current models are flexible but are maintained permanently curved and rigid under Gorilla glass – that can and will change in the future, leading to truly flexible, bendable, and foldable OLED display screens.

Multiple Screen Modes and Color Management

One very important capability of the Galaxy Smartphones that is often overlooked by many consumers and reviewers, is its set of user selectable Screen Modes. Most Smartphones only provide a single fixed factory display color calibration, with no way for the user to alter it based on personal preferences, running applications, or ambient light levels. Samsung has implemented Color Management for their OLED Smartphones and Tablets allowing them to provide multiple Screen Modes with different Color Gamuts and color calibrations – other Smartphones only provide a single fixed screen Color Gamut and color calibration. This Figure shows the different Color Gamuts. Color Management with multiple and varying Color Gamuts are a very useful and important state-of-the-art capability that all manufacturers will need to provide in the future. All of the recent Galaxy models including the S7 and S7 Edge have this important capability – see the Next Generation of Mobile Displays section below.

The Most Accurate Display Colors

The Basic screen mode on the Galaxy S7 is tied with the Galaxy Note 5 for the most accurate display colors of any smartphone or tablet display that we have ever tested, with a measured average Absolute Color Accuracy of 1.5 JNCD, which is visually indistinguishable from perfect, and is very likely considerably better than your living room TV. See our detailed Absolute Color Accuracy Plots with 41 Reference Colors and also this regarding Bogus Color Accuracy Measurements. Good Color Accuracy is especially important when viewing photos from family and friends (because you often know exactly what they actually should look like), for some TV shows, movies, and sporting events with image content and colors that you are familiar with, and also for viewing online merchandise, so you have a very good idea of exactly what product colors you are buying and are less likely to return them. Select the Basic Screen Mode using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the Galaxy S7.

Adobe RGB AMOLED Photo Screen Mode

Most high-end digital cameras have an option to use the Adobe RGB Color Gamut, which is 17 percent larger than the standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut used in consumer cameras. The AMOLED Photo screen mode on the Galaxy S7 provides a very accurate 1.6 JNCD calibration to the Adobe RGB standard, which is rarely available in consumer displays. It is very useful for viewing high-end digital photos and other advanced imaging applications. This is a significant plus for serious photography enthusiasts. Select the AMOLED Photo screen mode using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the Galaxy S7.

Adaptive Display Screen Mode with a Wide Color Gamut

The Galaxy S7 OLED display’s native Wide Color Gamut Adaptive Display screen mode has significantly more vibrant and saturated colors with its 131 percent of the Standard (sRGB / Rec.709) Color Gamut, among the highest that we have ever measured for Smartphones and Tablets. Some people like the extra saturated and vibrant colors, plus it is useful for special applications and is recommended for viewing in medium to high levels of ambient light because it offsets some of the reflected light glare that washes out the on-screen image colors. Select the Adaptive Display screen mode using Display Settings – note that Adaptive Display is the factory default screen mode for the Galaxy S7.

The Highest Screen Brightness and Contrast in High Ambient Light

Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright ambient lighting, which washes out the image colors and contrast, reducing picture quality and making it harder to view or read the screen. To be usable in high ambient light a display needs a dual combination of high screen Brightness and low screen Reflectance – the Galaxy S7 has both. Its screen Reflectance is 4.6 percent, close to the lowest that we have ever measured for a smartphone. When Automatic Brightness is turned On, the Galaxy S7 reaches an impressive maximum screen Brightness of up to 855 nits in high Ambient Light, where high screen Brightness is really needed – it is tied with the Galaxy Note 5 for the Brightest mobile display that we have ever tested. As a result of its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy S7 has a Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light, which quantitatively measures screen visibility and image contrast under bright Ambient Light, that ranges from 119 to 186, also tied with the Galaxy Note 5 for the highest Contrast Rating in High Ambient Light that we have ever measured for any mobile display.

Interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness that Works Well

The Galaxy S7 has an important new interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control that learns and stores the display brightness settings that you make for varying ambient light levels, so from then on you get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other smartphones, tablets, and TVs. When Automatic Brightness is turned On, if you adjust the Brightness Slider, the Galaxy S7 will remember that setting along with the current ambient light level that is measured by the Ambient Light Sensor (ALS), which is located next to the front facing camera just above the top of the display. From then on the Galaxy S7 will automatically adjust the screen Brightness by measuring the current ambient light level and then adjusting the screen Brightness based on the settings you’ve previously made, so you’ll get a customized screen Brightness setting that you’ve previously trained it to produce for the current level of ambient light. It is the first smartphone, tablet, or TV to do Automatic Brightness correctly.

Always On Display

The new Always On Display mode will show various personalized clock, calendar, status messages, notifications and images on the main screen whenever the phone is off (in standby), all day and all night, which can be done with very low power on an OLED display with a black background because every sub-pixel is independently powered. The OLED display produces an illuminated main screen image 24 hours a day so you can always discreetly check it with just a glance. As a result, the OLED Always On Display will reduce the need for a smartwatch, which seems likely to become an endangered species.

The Future of OLED Smartphones

OLEDs have now evolved and emerged as the premium mobile smartphone display technology. There is no better confirmation of this than a series of recent well founded rumors from a number of prominent publications that Apple will be switching the iPhone to OLED displays in 2018, or possibly 2017 for premium models.

OLED displays provide a number of significant advantages over LCDs including: being much thinner, much lighter, with a much smaller bezel providing a near rimless design, plus a very fast response time, better viewing angles, and an always-on display mode. Many of the OLED performance advantages result from the fact that every single sub-pixel in an OLED display is individually directly powered, which results in better color accuracy, image contrast accuracy, and screen uniformity.

Because of their very flexible power management capabilities, OLEDs are not only more power efficient than LCDs for most image content, but they now deliver much higher peak Brightness than LCDs because of this. However, for mostly all white screen content LCDs are likely to remain brighter and more power efficient for a while. OLED displays can also be manufactured on flexible substrates, which allows the screens to be curved and rounded like on Samsung’s Galaxy Edge and Galaxy Round displays. Right now the curved flexible OLED displays are protected under rigid glass, but in the near future OLED products will be foldable and flexible.

Apple’s rumored move to an OLED iPhone is simply a recognition of all of the above, particularly as more and more competing smartphones come with OLED displays. The interesting question is which companies will manufacture the OLED displays for Apple in sufficient volume? Right now only Samsung and LG manufacture OLED displays for actual shipping smartphones. According to OLED-Info and OLED Association, which track developments in the OLED industry, other potential manufacturers include JDI, AU Optronics, Foxconn, Sharp, and BOE, but there is a long learning curve involved in producing very high quality OLED displays, particularly in very high volumes, so other than Samsung and LG, it remains to be seen who will be supplying all of the OLED iPhone displays. And if Apple wants to use the much harder to manufacture flexible OLED displays it’s an even bigger question...

Improving the Next Generation of Mobile Displays

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both have very high 2560x1440 pixel resolution and 535+ pixels per inch (ppi) displays producing images that look perfectly sharp (for normal 20/20 human vision) under all normal viewing conditions, which always includes some ambient light that always lowers the visible image contrast and perceived image sharpness (Modulation Transfer MTF). Note that displays are almost never viewed in absolute darkness under perfect viewing conditions with ideal image content. As a result, it is absolutely pointless to further increase the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi) for a marketing wild goose chase into the stratosphere…

With screen size and resolution already functionally maxed out, manufacturers should instead dedicate their efforts and resources into improving real world display performance in ambient light by using advanced technology to restore and compensate for the loss of color gamut, color saturation, and image contrast, something that every consumer will benefit from, and will also immediately notice and appreciate – providing a true sales and marketing advantage…

The most important improvements for both OLED and LCD mobile displays will come from improving their image and picture quality and screen readability in real world ambient light, which washes out the screen images, resulting in reduced image contrast, color saturation, and color accuracy. The key will be in lowering screen Reflectance and implementing Dynamic Color Management with automatic real-time modification of the display’s native Color Gamut and Intensity Scales based on the measured Ambient Light level in order to have them compensate for the reflected light glare and image wash out including both loss of color saturation and image contrast from ambient light as discussed in our 2014 Innovative Displays and Display Technology and SID Display Technology Shoot-Out articles.

The displays, technologies, and manufacturers that succeed in implementing this new real world high ambient light performance strategy will take the lead in the next generations of mobile displays… Follow DisplayMate on Twitter to learn about these developments and our upcoming display technology coverage.

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All smartphone, tablet, monitor and TV displays can be significantly improved using DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration, and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement, prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization, testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge

Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table

Below we examine in-depth the OLED display on the Samsung Galaxy S7 based on objective Lab measurement data and criteria

in the following sections: Display Specifications, Overall Assessments, Screen Reflections, Brightness and Contrast,

Colors and Intensities, Viewing Angles, OLED Spectra, Display Power

For additional background information see the original articles covering

the Galaxy S6 Display Technology Shoot-Out and Galaxy Note 5 Display Technology Shoot-Out.

Detailed Test and Measurement Comparisons with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5

You can directly compare the data and measurement results for the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S7, and Galaxy Note 5 displays in detail

by using a Tabbed web browser with our comprehensive Lab measurements and analysis for each of the displays.

For each Tab click on a Link below. The entries are mostly identical with only minor formatting differences,

so it’s easy to make detailed side-by-side comparisons by simply clicking through the Tabs.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Lab Measurements Comparison Table

Samsung Galaxy S7 Lab Measurements Comparison Table

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Lab Measurements Comparison Table

For comparisons with the other leading Smartphone, Tablet, and Smart Watch displays see our Mobile Display Technology Shoot-Out series.

About the Author

Dr. Raymond Soneira is President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire, which produces display calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso.info@displaymate.com.

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All smartphone, tablet, monitor and TV displays can be significantly improved using DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration, and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement, prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization, testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.

About DisplayMate Technologies

DisplayMate Technologies specializes in proprietary advanced scientific display calibration and mathematical display optimization to deliver unsurpassed objective performance, picture quality and accuracy for all types of displays including video and computer monitors, projectors, TVs, mobile displays such as smartphones and tablets, and all display technologies including LCD, OLED, 3D, LED, LCoS, Plasma, DLP and CRT. This article is a lite version of our intensive scientific analysis of Smartphone and Smartphone mobile displays – before the benefits of our advanced mathematical DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve many of the display deficiencies. We offer DisplayMate display calibration software for consumers and advanced DisplayMate display diagnostic and calibration software for technicians and test labs.

For manufacturers we offer Consulting Services that include advanced Lab testing and evaluations, confidential Shoot-Outs with competing products, calibration and optimization for displays, cameras and their User Interface, plus on-site and factory visits. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement, prototype development, and production quality control so they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our Display Technology Shoot-Out series. See our world renown Display Technology Shoot-Out public article series for an introduction and preview. DisplayMate’s advanced scientific optimizations can make lower cost panels look as good or better than more expensive higher performance displays. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to turn your display into a spectacular one to surpass your competition then Contact DisplayMate Technologies to learn more.

Article Links: Galaxy S6 OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out

Article Links: Galaxy Note 5 OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out

Article Links: Absolute Color Accuracy Display Technology Shoot-Out

Article Links: Display Technology Shoot-Out Article Series Overview and Home Page

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