In an extreme OLED burn-in test, the iPhone X showed another aspect of superiority over the Galaxy Note 8.
OLED screens look amazing on smartphones, but they come with the risk of suffering from burn-in, or the appearance of images that are left behind on the display even if it is turned off. Apple's iPhone X and Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S7 Edge are examples of recently released smartphones that feature OLED screens.
iPhone X Wins In Extreme OLED Burn-In Test
An extreme OLED burn-in test, performed by South Korean tech website and marketplace Cetizen, subjected the iPhone X, the Galaxy Note 8, and the Galaxy S7 Edge to 510 hours of showing a static image on the screen at full brightness.
At the start, the iPhone X appeared to fall behind, as the smartphone already started showing faint signs of burn-in after only 17 hours. However, it was not too bad to be noticed by users with regular use. More importantly, the burn-in never got worse after that point.
It took the Galaxy Note 8 more time to show signs of burn-in. However, at the 62-hour mark, the smartphone's display exhibited a burn-in that can be identified by a general user. By the end of the 510-hour test, the Galaxy Note 8 performed the worst among the three smartphones.
The Galaxy S7 Edge, meanwhile, performed better than the Galaxy Note 8, but not as well as the iPhone X. The Galaxy S7 Edge display did not look as bad as that of the Galaxy Note 8 after the test, but the burn-in was more evident compared to the iPhone X.
Apple Burn-In Prevention Measures Worked
Apple knew about the burn-in risk when it used OLED screens for the iPhone X, and the company designed the hardware and software of the smartphone to try to reduce the chances of such a thing from happening.
From the results of Cetizen's test, it would appear that Apple's work to address the burn-in issue has paid off. The likelihood that anyone would have his or her iPhone X at full brightness displaying a single image for 510 hours is rather slim, but it is good to know that Apple thought about the potential problem.
However, users should note that while the iPhone X performed the best among the three smartphones in the extreme OLED burn-in test, the Galaxy note 8 and the Galaxy S7 Edge did not do poorly. Customers thinking of buying these smartphones will not likely have to worry about burn-in issues on their smartphones, though the same could not be said for the Google Pixel 2 XL.
