LTPO Displays: What Kind Of Displays Are They And Why Are They So Good?

Smartphones are something we depend on now. Imagining a day without them, going anywhere without them, seems impossible now, and that is why manufacturing companies have been trying to introduce new advancements every day. If you ask us which smartphone component consumes the most power, we can easily say the display. Wouldn’t you want your cell phone’s display to rest and conserve more power? For solving this issue and conserving power, a new technology LTPO has been introduced in the marketplace.

Brightness levels, always-on displays, and high-resolution content all impact the screen’s power consumption, which is the main battery drain. As a result, the manufacturers created a new, more energy-efficient display technology, and the battery life was improved significantly overall.

What is LTPO?

One of these technologies is LTPO, or Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide, a material used to make semiconductors integrated into display hardware. LTPO is a relatively new technology Apple originally employed in the Watch Series 4 display backplane systems or the screen’s backbone. The screen’s features, such as refresh rate and power consumption, are determined by the materials used in the backplane.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra features an LTPO display technology

High screen refresh rates became the new standard specification after OnePlus debuted its flagship OnePlus 7 Pro with a 90Hz refresh rate, however display panel technology was sluggish to catch on in terms of battery economy. To reduce power consumption, the goal now is to achieve adaptive or dynamic refresh rates. Only high-end flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 20, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and the OnePlus 9 Pro use LTPO display panels at the time.

How Does LTPO Technology Work?

In terms of structure, LTPO is a cross between LTPS (Low-Temperature Poly-Silicon), which is currently widely used in displays, and Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide thin-film transistors. The use of a combination of both materials allows for increased electron mobility and flexible switching between the two without sacrificing performance.

Why are LTPO Displays So Good?

You will rapidly notice a significant battery drain if you leave your phone repair running at 120Hz every day of the week, although to be fair, most jobs do not demand your phone screen’s full high refresh capabilities. This problem is solved with LTPO technology, which gives smoothness at high refresh rates without draining the battery as much as LTPS does. In fact, Samsung Display recently stated that its new energy-efficient OLED screens lower energy consumption by 16%.

A researcher from Samsung Display is testing the new OLED material

The majority of OLED panels on the market today employ LTPS, which has several drawbacks, including high power consumption and the inability to attain high resolution and fast refresh rates at the same time. Devices with LTPO OLED panels may alter refresh rate dynamically depending on what’s on the screen, for example, when reading an e-book or playing a game. In addition, the refresh rate will increase if you engage with the screen, but if the phone is idle, the screen will only refresh once every minute or so. As a result of this adaptive switching, our phones can optimize refresh rates dynamically depending on content and workloads without consuming battery life.

Conclusion

Wrapping up, while LTPO OLED screens are still in their infancy, numerous reviewers of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and OnePlus 9 Pro have noted how much better they are than standard OLED panels, implying that we will see more power-efficient displays in smartphones in the coming years. If the reports are correct, Apple is planning to employ LTPO panels in select iPhone 2021 models, with ambitions to use the technology throughout the entire 2022 lineup in the future. In addition, having variable refresh rates enabled by default on smartphones gives users added peace of mind, knowing that the phone’s screen isn’t working harder than it needs to while still providing smooth viewing experiences and conserving the battery life for a longer run.