The smartphone revolution transformed the way we see the world: offering access to communication, information and entertainment – all in the palm of our hands. At the center of this revolution lies the smartphone’s display.

From watching the latest blockbuster to snapping breathtaking pictures, the highest levels of brightness, color accuracy and contrast are crucial to delivering the best possible color expression and the optimal mobile experience. The Galaxy S10’s striking colors and beautiful display have garnered considerable media attention, and the device has been designated DisplayMate’s highest-ever “Excellent A+” grade. This outstanding visual experience begins with the Dynamic AMOLED display.

Brilliant (1200-nit) Brightness

No matter where you are, you can enjoy a clear and bright viewing experience with the Galaxy S10 line. The Dynamic AMOLED display ensures that you can check your messages or easily search for restaurant recommendations without having to find a shaded spot when you’re outside and on the go.

When it comes to displays, brightness is measured in terms of luminance – the amount of light per square unit that the display emits or reflects. With a peak luminance of 1200 nits (40 percent greater than the Galaxy S7), the Galaxy S10’s display allows users to enjoy bright, clear images even under direct sunlight, without having to shade the screen with their hand or turn their back to the sun.

The Galaxy S10 is the world’s first mobile display to support HDR10+¹ which optimizes content’s brightness levels to offer users truly immersive viewing experiences. The display is backed by the official HDR10+ logo certification, which was created after several months of discussion with related organizations and companies to expand the HDR10+ certification standard – a standard that had previously only applied to TVs – to mobile devices.

Utilizing its HDR10+ Dynamic Tone Mapping feature, the Galaxy S10 ensures that content like films and shows are depicted precisely as their creators intended. This allows the display to adjust brightness to every single scene, creating better shadow detail, and making light scenes lighter and dark scenes darker.

The Galaxy S10 opens the door for users to enjoy an ever-growing collection of HDR10+ mobile content. This includes the rich library of HDR10+ content that’s accessible via Amazon Prime – the collection which was previously only available on HDR10+-compatible TVs. The Galaxy S10’s camera also allows users to record their own HDR10+-quality content with true-to-life colors and brightness.

Ever-So-Accurate Colors (0.4 JNCD)

Years of innovation in display technology have led to new heights of color expression for smartphone displays.

This is especially noticeable when viewing photos. Have you ever received photos from your friends whose colors looked washed out when viewed on your smartphone’s screen? A lack of color reproduction could be to blame. When it comes to color reproduction, it doesn’t matter how well a photo is shot, nor how high-quality the camera may be. Rather, it all depends on the color reproduction capacity of the display.

Like Samsung’s QLED TVs, the Galaxy S10’s display has been certified by Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker (VDE) to produce 100 percent color volume in the DCI-P3 color range. This means that just like Samsung’s latest TVs, the Galaxy S10 can be counted upon to deliver a viewing experience that’s second to none. While previous Galaxy devices’ AMOLED displays have supported a wide range of colors, the Galaxy S10’s display takes color reproduction to the next level, producing true-to-life colors at the highest brightness levels.

The Dynamic AMOLED display received a score of 0.4 from DisplayMate for their evaluation of its Just Noticeable Color Difference (JNCD)². This stunning level of color reproduction makes watching a movie or show on the Dynamic AMOLED display a cinematic experience. It also helps ensure that when shopping for clothes or other products online, the colors of the items that you see on your screen will closely match the colors of those items in real life.

A World-Class (2,000,000:1) Contrast Ratio

When watching a movie or playing video games, the deeper the contrast, the more immersive the visual experience. In fact, the ability to make out shadowy figures in the dark can mean the difference between life and death when you’re playing a first-person shooter game.

The Galaxy S10 line takes gaming and watching videos to the next level through the combination of an industry-best, VDE-certified 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The former opens the door for even more distinctive and accurate color gradation³, while the latter enables the display to produce exceptional detail and deeper contrast.

When gaming, greater contrast makes it that much easier to navigate dark settings and spot items and lurking enemies. When watching dark scenes in a film like the latest space-set thriller, the enhanced contrast allows even the most subtle of details to shine through.

“We innovate with displays to make the mobile experience more enjoyable and immersive,” said Kee-Hyon Park, adisplay R&D engineer in Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division. “That’s why we’ve enhanced every aspect of the Dynamic AMOLED display: to add brilliant, high-quality visuals to more aspects of daily life.”

¹ HDR10+ is a next-generation open standard for high dynamic range (HDR) video. The HDR10+ Logo License Program is the product of a joint venture established by Samsung Electronics, 20th Century Fox and Panasonic Corporation. HDR10+ logo certifications are evaluated by VTM Group, a certification/logo management services company based in the U.S.

² The Just Noticeable Color Difference (JNCD) measurement evaluates color accuracy based on the bare minimum color difference that the human eye can perceive. The closer a display’s JNCD score is to zero, the more accurate its colors are.

³ Accurate low-gradation color expression technology is not included in the Galaxy S10e.

* Images and videos included in this article have been simulated for illustrative purposes.

In the results of its comprehensive evaluation of the Galaxy Note8’s Infinity Display, DisplayMate Technologies, the leading evaluator of video screens, stated that Samsung’s latest flagship device is “the most innovative and high performance smartphone display that we have ever lab tested.”

Acquiring an all-time high grade of “Excellent A+,” the Galaxy Note8 exceeded the display performance of the Galaxy S8 and previous Galaxy Note device in the main assessment categories including brightness, outdoor visibility and color gamut, once again raising the standard for smartphone displays.

“The display on the Galaxy Note8 has not only major improvements in the OLED display hardware, but also many new and enhanced display features and display functions,” DisplayMate reported. Read on to learn about which were most praised by the industry’s leading screen authority.

Brighter and Less Reflective

The Infinity Display of the Galaxy Note8 boasts a record high peak brightness of 1,240 nits* – a 22 percent increase from the Galaxy S8 – and a screen reflectance level of 4.6 percent, one of the lowest that DisplayMate has ever measured for a smartphone. Combined high brightness and low screen reflectance levels equate to a display that is easily readable, even under relatively high ambient lighting, such as bright sunlight.

Higher Resolution

As a result of its larger display size and larger aspect ratio of 18.5:9, the Galaxy Note8 is the first Note smartphone to realize 3K QHD+ (2960×1440 pixels) resolution. The display has Diamond Pixels and sub-pixel rendering with 521 pixels per inch (ppi), providing significantly higher image sharpness than can be resolved with normal 20/20 vision at the typical viewing distance of 10 inches or more, so the display appears perfectly sharp.

Enhanced Entertainment Capabilities

The Galaxy Note8 is certified by the UHD Alliance for MOBILE HDR PREMIUM, which allows it to play the same 4K High Dynamic Range content produced for 4K UHD Premium TVs.

To do so, the Galaxy Note8 has the required Digital Cinema DCI-P3 wide color gamut, perfect blacks and an infinite contrast ratio, as well as a peak brightness level of more than 1,000 nits which is needed for High Dynamic Range. Furthermore, its built-in video processor allows it to provide an expanded dynamic range for standard video content that produces an HDR-like effect.

The native color gamut of the Galaxy Note8, meanwhile, is even larger than that of the Galaxy S8 – 112 percent of DCI-P3 and 141 percent of sRGB. In other words, users can enjoy movies and games in the colors that the content producers intended.

Design Innovation

The DisplayMate evaluation had many positive points to add about the design of the bezel-less Infinity Display of the Galaxy Note8, which fills almost the entire front face of the phone from edge-to-edge.

The report noted that its 6.3-inch display is 20 percent larger in screen area than the Galaxy S8 and 14 percent larger than previous Galaxy Note displays, despite the fact that the size of the phone itself did not increase.

The dual-curved screen OLED display is manufactured on a flexible plastic substrate so that it can bend around corners on both sides of the phone to not only minimize bezels, but also provide two curved Edge screen displays that can be viewed and controlled from both the front or the sides.

The display’s expanded screen space, along with its new 18.5:9 aspect ratio, explained DisplayMate, enhances the utility of the device, making it easier for users to multitask, watch video content and check notifications. Furthermore, the adoption of a new Night Mode with a blue light filter allows users to adjust and reduce the amount of blue light from the display for better night viewing and improved sleep.

* With Automatic Brightness On, the Galaxy Note8 peak brightness reaches 1,240 nits.