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.

No matter how big the TV screen is, if it doesn’t have the necessary picture quality, users won’t be able to realize the power of the screen. That’s why large-sized TV has inevitably led to the increase in demand for Ultra High Definition (UHD). UHD is a 4K (3,840X2,160) picture quality, which is applied to TVs that measure over 65 inches. The technology is about to take yet another step up as 8K (7,680X4,320) TVs are ready to be commercialized.

But this is an era whereby even the number of pixels isn’t enough in isolation. To produce the best picture quality possible, it’s also important to consider the environment this content will be viewed in and the quality of the original content itself. The paradigm is shifting and it’s vital that all considerations are taken into account to produce an experience that everyone will enjoy.

UHD TV Beyond FHD TV

Worldwide UHD TV sales surpassed FHD (Full High Definition) TV for the first time last year, according to market researcher IHS Markit. It is expected to ship more than 100 million units this year, which is about 45% of the total TV market. In 2022, the proportion of UHD TV is expected to reach 60%.

Samsung UHD TV sales volume is also on the rise. Sales of Samsung UHD TVs in the fourth quarter of last year already exceeded 50% of the total Samsung TV units sold globally. In the first quarter of this year, Samsung UHD TV sales also increased by more than 35% compared to the same period last year.

What is the Standard for Ultra-High-Definition?

In the ultra-high-definition TV market era, standards for judging picture quality are further developing. For example, is a TV able to reproduce colors with real-life brightness, particularly when the normal TV viewing environment is brighter than many would expect? According to the DOE survey, consumers in the U.S. and Europe usually watch TV in a bright environment with an average home illuminance level of 79 lux. Can a TV react and provide an accurate picture in these, and other common viewing use cases?

Experts advise consumers to look beyond the high resolution to see the different factors that cause the difference in brightness, contrast, and content when consumers watch TV. The way consumers view TV and the way experts gauge a TV’s ability to deliver is much more sophisticated than it ever has been. The TV needs to be more versatile because it’s used to do more things. That means Samsung has to be stringent to make sure its QLED products perform not just according to the specifications but also according to real life usage.

Blacks and Colors Transformed

When watching a dark scene in a bright environment, the reflection of objects around the screen can cause discomfort. QLED TV solved this problem by using Anti-reflection technology. Even under daylight or bright lighting, an anti-reflective screen dramatically reduces glare, allowing one to be more immersed in images regardless of the surroundings.

Along with this, Samsung is also working to expand the ecosystem to upgrade HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology, which is an integral function of ultra-definition TV. Since last year, Samsung has been developing HDR10+, which is one step more advanced than HDR10, a standard for realizing HDR video. HDR10+ is a technology that shows optimal contrast ratio for each scene through ‘Dynamic Tone Mapping’ technique which applies different contrast to each scene. The company is expanding its HDR10+ content in cooperation with global companies such as Amazon, 20^th Century Fox, Panasonic and Warner Bros.

AI Upscaling the Content

High quality content is as important as the ultra-high definition TV specification.

Many of the most recognizable names in video content such as Netflix, YouTube and various cable companies already provide UHD content. However, due to the burden of production cost, consumers are not able to enjoy 4K UHD broadcasting content on TV unrestrictedly yet.

The problem here is that if low-quality content is shown on a big screen, the pixels are usually enlarged artificially, causing the picture to shake or lose clarity. Samsung Electronics has solved this problem by installing the ‘4K Q Engine’ based on semiconductor technology on its QLED TV.

‘4K Q Engine’ is a technology that upgrades SD (400,000 pixels) and FHD (2 million pixels) class image to 4K (8 million pixels) class. Based on artificial intelligence, it applies a 5-step algorithm (Image Signal Analysis ▷ Noise Reduction ▷ Improved 1st Detail ▷ 4K Upscaling ▷ Improved 2nd Detail) to improve image quality and express hidden details. In actual comparison, in the FHD image, the part where the light in the night view of the city is clearly separated by the ‘4K Q Engine’.

What’s more, 8K AI Technology will be introduced in the latter half of the year and will offer an even better picture and sound expression.

QLED TV’s dramatically improved picture quality this year has been widely praised by many media outlets including Tech Radar, What Hi-Fi, and AVS Forum. Trusted Reviews gave Samsung’s QLED the Highly Recommended mark and said: “The Samsung QE65Q9FN is the most impressive TV I’ve reviewed in years. It effectively combines the strong brightness and colour of Quantum Dot LED (QLED) with the deep blacks and almost the lighting precision of OLED. That’s a huge deal in a world where you generally choose one or the other.”

“As TVs gradually get larger in size and the competition for premium picture quality becomes fiercer, detailed and subtle image rendering performance is growing in importance,” said Doochan Eum, Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “With Samsung QLED TV’s enhanced brightness, contrast, content, we are continuing to provide consumers with a superb immersive viewing experience.”