This is a generation of new technologies and no wonder we wake up every day to know about a new one. Today let us discuss the latest LTPO display and know if it is better than the age-old OLED displays. The LTPO Display was first introduced on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Ultra smartphone and was followed by many other smartphone makers. LTPO displays have been used by Samsung and Apple on their smartwatches for more than 2 years now and it is being moved onto smartphones lately.
1. What is LTPO Display?
2. LTPO Display Vs. OLED Display
3. First Smartphone with LTPO Panel
4. List of Smartphones with LTPO Panel to date
5. LTPO 1.0 Vs. LTPO 2.0 Vs. LTPO 3.0
What is LTPO Display?
LTPO stands for low-temperature polycrystalline oxide, referring to a particular type of backplane technology seen in OLED displays.
The LTPO Display can dynamically switch between refresh rates without a hardware component between the graphics controller and the GPU (Graphics processing unit). With this, the phone does not have to render as many frames for the task to be performed which in turn saves a considerable amount of battery.
This will be useful when switching between an image and playing a game, as the refresh rate can be dropped while viewing an image which intern will save the battery and processor load. Similarly, the refresh rate can go to the maximum while playing a game. Unlike other phones, this tech can be used to make the phone display capable of a refresh rate as low as 1Hz.
LTPO Display Vs. OLED Display:
OLED displays uses low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) for the thin film transistors that make up the display backplane.
The OLED display has three major layers – An organic emissive layer, a protective glass surface, and a backplane. The backplane controls how each pixel acts as it is composed of thin film transistors (TFTs), mostly of two kinds — one for switching on a pixel known as -Switching TFTs, and another for maintaining its brightness which is called -Driving TFTs.
LTPO is an updated version of OLED but still very different from the regular OLED panels. This tech allows the screen of the device to operate at variable refresh rates using a lesser battery when compared to an OLED display. The LTPO displays on phones can refresh in a range of 1-120Hz or more, without taking much of a load on battery life, but the OLED display needs an additional component to switch between multiple refresh rates.
First Smartphone with LTPO Panel:
As you know, Apple was the first to bring the LTPO display on the Apple Watch Series 5, but the South Korean Giant Samsung became the first smartphone maker to bring Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with an OLED LTPO display launched in August 2020.
List of Smartphones with LTPO Panel to date:
Here is the list of smartphones that have used the LTPO panel.
Samsung
* Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
* Samsung Galaxy Note Ultra 20
* Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Fold 2, Z Flip 3
Apple
* iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max
* Google Pixel 6 Pro
OnePlus
* OnePlus 10 Pro, 9 Pro
Xiaomi
* Xiaomi 12 Pro
OPPO
* OPPO Find X3, Find X3 Pro
* OPPO Find N
Realme
* Realme GT2 Pro
Leica
* leitz phone 1
Sharp
* Sharp Aquos R6
Vivo
* Vivo X70 Pro +
* iQOO 9 Pro, 8 Pro
LTPO 1.0 Vs LTPO 2.0 Vs LTPO 3.0:
In the initial version of LTPO, the refresh rate could change from 120Hz to 60Hz or even 48Hz with certain conditions. But with the LTPO 2.0, the devices were capable of adjusting their refresh rate between 1Hz to 120Hz, hence saving battery life.
Well, there isn’t much information on the upcoming LTPO 3.0 to talk about but it is said that the latest version will enhance battery life and its main focus will be on energy saving. This new technology could be announced very soon by OnePlus with its flagship OnePlus 11.
