According to recent findings from Counterpoint Research, nearly half of all global smartphone users spend more than five hours a day on their mobile device. Once the sun goes down, studies show that the blue light from your smartphone’s screen and other artificial light sources can throw your biological clock out of whack – making it harder to fall asleep, and possibly causing more serious problems down the line.

To safeguard users’ eyes from blue light’s potentially harmful effects, Samsung equipped the Galaxy S10 line with a display that reduces users’ exposure to blue light wavelengths – without compromising picture quality. Let’s take a closer look at how blue light affects our eyes, and how the Galaxy S10’s display protects them.

Why Blue Light Exposure Matters

Blue light is generally defined as a high-intensity, short-wavelength (380 to 500-nanometer) range of light on the visible light spectrum.

These days, whether it’s through our electronic devices’ screens, energy efficient lighting, or simply sunlight, we’re constantly being exposed to blue light. Which isn’t all bad. According to the Royal Society Te Apārangi, a not-for-profit organization based in New Zealand, “Adequate exposure to daylight, particularly during the morning, is important for synchronizing the circadian body clock, which can affect many processes including sleep, metabolism, immune function and even our mood.”

However, when viewed at night, blue light has been shown to suppress the production of melatonin (a hormone that regulates sleep–wake cycles) more powerfully than other types of light, affecting our ability to sleep. Recent research from the University of Toledo also suggests that blue light from mobile devices can cause harm to the eye’s retina.

In this digital age, with smartphone users spending increasingly more time on their mobile devices, it’s easy to see why blue-light reducing technology has become absolutely necessary.

How the Galaxy S10 Reduces Blue Light Transmission

The Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 5G’s Dynamic AMOLED display was built from the ground up to minimize eye strain so users can get a better night’s sleep.

Galaxy S10 users can sleep soundly knowing that their smartphone’s display has been certified by world-renowned testing firm TÜV Rheinland¹ to drastically reduce blue light’s harmful effects. When building the display, which received TÜV Rheinland’s official ‘Eye Comfort’ certification, Samsung applied new organic materials that reduce blue light wavelengths measuring between 415 and 455nm (the range that research² suggests is particularly harmful to the retina) by up to 42 percent³ – without the use of filters.

This significant reduction in blue light transmission is the product of Samsung’s continuous commitment to developing industry-leading AMOLED technology. The Dynamic AMOLED display reduces the transmission of ‘harmful’ blue light (wavelengths in the 415 to 455nm range) to below 7 percent – the industry’s lowest mark. This means that the Galaxy S10’s display reduces nearly 50 percent more blue light than previous AMOLED displays (approx. 12 percent), and more than 60 percent more than most smartphone LCD displays (approx. 18 percent).

The Galaxy S10’s display also produces incredibly lifelike colors. To enable users to enjoy crisp, immersive colors day or night, Samsung went to great lengths to ensure that the display’s blue-light reducing innovations wouldn’t compromise image quality.

Samsung’s Mobile Digital Natural Image engine (mDNIe) is one such example of an image quality-preserving innovation. Whereas with previous smartphones’ displays, activating a blue-light filter would inevitably add a noticeable tint to the screen, this proprietary technology enables the Galaxy S10’s display to produce vibrant, immersive colors⁴ and reduce blue light transmission at the same time.

To offer users additional protection, the Galaxy S10 also features a built-in blue-light filter, accessible via the Quick Panel, that blocks up to 99 percent of blue light wavelengths. Users also have the option to set the blue-light filter to turn on automatically before they go to bed by activating Bixby’s preset ‘Before bed’ Routine, accessible under Settings > Advanced features > Bixby Routines.

As ByungChang Kwak of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Division explained, in addition to opting for a blue-light reducing smartphone like the Galaxy S10, there are simple things that consumers can do to help protect their eyes when using electronics devices. “For example, adjusting ambient lighting to minimize screen glare can help reduce eye strain,” said Kwak, “and remembering to blink frequently can help prevent dry eye.”

Going forward, Kwak added, “Samsung will continue to develop technologies that promote better health and make the user experience more convenient.”

¹ TÜV Rheinland, a globally recognized certification institute, awarded Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+, S10 5G’s display the Eye Comfort Certification based on its ability to drastically reduce the harmful effects of blue light. This certification can be found on www.tuv.com with the ID 1419064785.
² Arnault E, Barrau C, Nanteau C, Gondouin P, Bigot K, et al. (2013) Phototoxic Action Spectrum on a Retinal Pigment Epithelium Model of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Exposed to Sunlight Normalized Conditions. PLOS ONE 8(8): e71398. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071398
³ Compared to previous AMOLED displays
⁴ The Dynamic AMOLED display has been certified by Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker (VDE) to deliver 100 percent mobile color volume in the DCI-P3 color range.

Thanks to these cutting-edge developments, the Galaxy S10 line offers a display with a brilliant, realistic picture quality whilst being comfortable on the user’s eyes and able to reflect various color preferences. Samsung Newsroom sat down with Byungduk Yang, Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division to learn more about how the Galaxy S10 line’s display is at the core of the user’s mobile experience.

A User-Friendly Approach to Display Technology

Yang’s development philosophy for mobile displays puts the user first; “providing practical screen solutions and new experiences have become our core values,” explained Yang. “As a result, the Galaxy S10 line’s display focuses on providing interesting experiences and real-life benefits to users, beyond just good picture quality or display size.”

Of course, one of the key innovations of the Galaxy S10 line is the full screen experience provided by the ‘Infinity-O Display’ that covers, bar the camera, the entire front side of the device. In order to seamlessly integrate the front camera into the display, a small and precise hole is made in the screen using a delicate laser cutting technique and advanced barrier technology. These procedures maximize screen real estate, enhancing the reliability of barrier performance of AMOLED pixels around the hole. Therefore, users’ visual experience is maintained, or even more improved on the Infinity-O Display along with Dynamic AMOLED technology at the highest quality possible. “The Galaxy S10 line’s full display offers picture quality that is more realistic than before,” noted Yang.

But the Galaxy S10 line’s display provides real-life benefits and experiences to users beyond just high picture quality. “We wanted to achieve a ‘user-friendly’ display,” explained Yang. “Display-based devices are known to harm users’ retinas after prolonged use to due blue light emissions. This is particularly a problem at night, when exposure to blue light inhibits melatonin production which can affect sleep patterns. But the Galaxy S10 line’s display delicately manipulates the wavelength of blue OLED to remove the harmful energy, which means the device can be used for a long time with minimal damage to the user’s eyes.”

Previously, smartphone displays used regular software to reduce the amount of blue light emanating from the display. But the Galaxy S10 line harnesses a technology that reduces blue light exposure by 42% more than the previous technique, without compromising picture quality. “We have even received an Eye Comfort Certification from TÜV Rheinland,” enthused Yang. “Users will definitely notice than their eyes are less strained when using the Galaxy S10.”

Changing the Way We See Color

Key to the brilliant realism of the Galaxy S10 line’s Dynamic AMOLED display is its evolved color representation. Compared to previous Galaxy phones, the Galaxy S10 line is the most exceptional yet; DisplayMate’s Just Noticeable Color Difference (JNCD) unit measurement for Galaxy S10 is 0.4 JNCD (where the lower the value, the more realistic a color rendering is), up from the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S9’s ratings at 0.5 and 0.7 JNCD respectively.

This near-perfect color rendering also takes into account global user color preferences. “We identified that people read color differently depending on where they are from, their age, and their gender,” explained Yang. “To accommodate this, we asked over 2,000 people in 15 countries all around the world to provide their color preferences. We then analyzed their responses and, given the results, created two default color modes. ‘Natural Mode’ has a warmer tone to suit people in the US and Europe, whereas ‘Vivid Mode’ accents bluish tones for users in Asia.”

A Display to Match the Human Eye

On top of being able to render over 16 million colors, the Galaxy S10 line’s Dynamic AMOLED Display also supports high definition, providing the user with optimized high picture quality for every image, and as the world’s first smartphone display to support HDR10+, for every frame of a video, as well. Much like how the pupils in our eyes dilate and contract depending on the amount of light around us, the Galaxy S10’s display features Dynamic Tone Mapping technology that adjusts and optimizes picture quality according to the light-dark contrast on the screen.

The display has also received a ‘100% Mobile Color Volume’ certification for its realistic image rendering – the first smartphone range to ever do so. In order to achieve such display prowess, not only has Samsung been tirelessly working on AMOLED organic material research, but also on its proprietary picture quality engine, ‘mDNIe (Mobile Digital Natural Image Engine)’.

So what is the future of device display, as envisaged by Yang? “In the past, we began with black and white displays – TV screens – and the natural next step was to develop displays that presented images in color, moving closer to how we, as humans, perceive the world. Accordingly, we are to take this verisimilitude to the next level by making a display that brings together technology to provide a picture quality that matches the realism and substantiality of human vision.”