Organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, are well on the way to changing how we look at technology.

OLED displays are used in technology from laptops and cellphones to tablets and jumbotrons.

The OLED, while it sounds familiar, shouldn’t be confused with LED displays; both emit light, but the way they do so is very different. The OLED is very small – as small as a pixel, actually. The LED can’t even compete with the precision that the OLED offers with its picture quality.  

Not only is the quality better, but displays using OLED have better black-to-color ratios, meaning the screen will be more clear in darker rooms. So, OLEDs should be able to stop that blinding glow of your phone first thing in the morning.

We can also see that the future of mobile devices will be affected as well. Providers such as Samsung are creating thinner displays with better resolution than any device today. With a display this thin, there are still no drawbacks when it comes to resolution. These OLED devices will be able to produce 4K HD, which is better than most name-brand TVs.

We can see that OLEDs have the potential to be big, and people are asking, “what are the drawbacks?”

The fact is OLED displays are prone to screen burn. This is when the display gets burned into the phone’s background.

Other than this minor, occasional blip, OLED screens are the best choice when debating future displays. LCD displays have more layers to construction, making them costlier and, in the case of a phone, create more space between your finger and your screen. The result is slower response time from touchscreens.

The positives that OLEDs bring will have a big effect on the economy of electronics. We can see that OLEDs are easy to make, but it seems they’re hard to innovate. Improving the already advanced displays is a hard job, but many technology companies are trucking ahead with these new screens.

Since OLEDs are the future of our technological displays, I hope this “sheds some light” on what to expect.

Kyle Fitch is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].