These days mobile phone screens are a huge part of everyone's life and are used quite extensively by many for both business and personal use. A common issue faced by some people when using a cell phone for longer periods of time is the strain it causes on the eyes, but the new Galaxy S24 screen feature might solve that problem permanently.
Although Samsung did not state this in the official specs reveal for the Galaxy S24, Samsung has increased the AMOLED display panel's PWM (pulse width modulation) refresh rate. In addition to making the screen lighter on the eyes, this new screen feature that Samsung has likely borrowed from Apple has the potential to reduce dizziness and headaches for users.
What’s New in the Galaxy S24 Screen?
If you were to compare any phone in the Samsung Galaxy S24 series to any of the older Samsung phones, you would notice that the display seems a little lighter on the eyes, and for good reason. After all, Samsung has increased the AMOLED display panel's PWM (pulse width modulation) refresh rate on all three phones; the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra.
According to measurements taken by Nicholas Sutrich of Androidcentral, the S24 Ultra showed “a much higher PWM rate of 492Hz and a more eye-friendly sine wave dimming pattern at high brightness levels.”
Many OEMs have increased the PWM on their devices significantly to help users who suffer from low PWM, and Samsung has also bumped the Galaxy S23 series' PWM up to 492Hz. Although this increase is still quite lower than phones of other manufacturers, it is almost double the PWM refresh rate of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. So, it is a step in the right direction, and we hope the company continues to advance towards it.
What Does This Mean for Users?
The reason behind the cause of eye strain, headaches, and even dizziness being a low pulse width modulation is that, unlike LCDs, OLEDs don’t dim and instead swiftly turn on and off 240 times per second. This effectively tricks users' eyes into thinking the display looks dimmer or brighter than it is.
This flickering is why you can sometimes see “banding” in photos or videos on OLED displays, This effect is usually invisible to the naked eye. However, for some sensitive users, this can have a negative effect, causing eye strain, dizziness, or headaches. This is also why Apple improved the PWM rate to 480Hz when the iPhone 13 launched.
Most people are not affected by it, but everyone has a different tolerance level. For those who are affected negatively by a low PWM, a higher refresh rate tends to cause less strain on the eyes, which in turn helps with the other issues. With the Galaxy S24’s battery life, we expect many users to be looking at the screen for a while, so the higher refresh rate is a definite plus.
According to Migraine Again, “When rates are set too low, monitors can imperceptibly flicker, causing your eyes to strain more than necessary. The refresh rate frequency is measured in hertz. You'll want to set this rate as high as it will go to reduce eye strain and prevent a computer headache.”
Final Thoughts
All in all, it’s excellent to see Samsung take an initiative that prioritizes the comfort and physical well-being of its users. We hope other leading mobile phone companies follow in their footsteps to make using mobile phones more accessible for all.
While this screen improvement helps Samsung match Apple's PWM rate, some leading Android manufacturers like One Plus have seen phones come out with a significantly higher PMW rate. This raises the question of if Samsung will strive to further increase the rate in the future.
