Samsung Galaxy S6 boasts the best display in the business

Samsung’s Super AMOLED display technology has shown continued improvements over the past few years, with the Galaxy Note 4 proven to have the best display in the mobile world last year, according to the discerning DisplayMate. The new Galaxy S6 is another showcase for Samsung’s in-house display technology, and there’s far more to it than just a curved screen and a higher resolution.

For starters, both the S6 and S6 Edge are 5.1-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixel) displays, resulting in a density of 577 PPI and pixels that cannot be resolved by naked 20/20 vision at typical viewing distances. The pixels are laid out in a diamond sub-pixel pattern, meaning that there are only half the number of red and blue pixels as a standard RGB display. The only technical difference between the two comes from the flexible plastic substrate used to make the S6 Edge’s display bendable.

Time for a summary of the results, beginning with one of the most important factors – color accuracy. This metric is used to measure the accurate reproduction of content colors across the spectrum. Testing found that the Galaxy S6’s basic screen mode provides the most accurate image colors of any smartphone or tablet. The measured Absolute Color Error for the Galaxy S6 is just 1.6 Just Noticeable Color Difference, tied with the Galaxy Note 4. Any error less than 3 JNCD appears perfectly accurate to the human eye.

Readability in high-ambient light situations is also important for mobile products and the S6 excels here too. It has a screen reflectance of just 4.6 percent and an impressive maximum screen brightness of 784 cd/m² (nits). As a result, the Galaxy S6 has a Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light that ranges from 118 to170, the highest that DisplayMate has measured for any mobile device. The previous champion, the Note 4, has peak brightness of 740 cd/m² and a contrast rating of 100 to 156.

Samsung’s latest smartphone also measured an impressive 20 percent improvement in display power efficiency over the Galaxy S5. At 50 percent brightness the Galaxy S5 consumes 0.82 watts and the Note 4 consumes 0.85 watts, while the Galaxy S6 measured only 0.65 watts.

DisplayMate also notes that the Galaxy S6 has more than four times the number of pixels as the iPhone 6, significantly higher Absolute Color Accuracy, lower power consumption, and significantly better viewing angel performance.

Essentially, not only has Samsung increased the pixel density over the Galaxy S5, but has also managed to provide noticeable improvements to absolute color accuracy (up 27 percent), peak brightness (up 12 percent), contrast and readability in high ambient light (up 10 percent) and improved energy efficiency (up 20 percent). Importantly, the curved S6 Edge display shows no performance difference from the standard S6 and both are industry leading displays.

Samsung can add its latest AMOLED display as another notch for its technically impressive Galaxy S6. For the full report and details on the tests, be sure to check out the full article.