The iPhone 15 still has an OLED display, but this may become a QDEL screen in the future. What are the advantages of that?
Apple devices get OLED
Oled is still a relatively new screen technology, which we are already seeing on the latest iPhones. It is expected that the iPad Pro will also have an OLED screen this year, followed by the MacBook Pro in 2025. These devices currently have an LCD display, but that will change in the coming years. Oled has the advantage of being more energy efficient and having nicer colors and a better contract. Yet people are slowly looking beyond OLED, with the successor to the iPhone perhaps being QDEL.
Also read: Oled, micro-LED and mini-LED: Apple’s (future) screens explained
This abbreviation stands for Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode and is a new fencing technique. With this technology, the screen is provided with a layer of quantum dots, which are nanocrystals that can take on different colors. There’s a good chance we’ll see QDEL on the iPhone in a few years. What is the advantage of the new screen technology?
Benefits of QDEL with the iPhone
QDEL, like OLED, is not dependent on background light. Instead, the nanocrystals function as a light source. There are already screens available with QLED technology, but they are still dependent on backlight. That problem has been resolved at QDEL, which means the screens can be a lot thinner. This makes QDEL also very interesting for new iPhone screens in the future.
The new screen technology has a number of advantages. QDEL nanocrystals have a much larger color range, allowing images to be displayed even more realistically. In addition, QDEL screens are much brighter and more energy efficient than OLED screens. For the iPhone, QDEL is mainly useful if you use the phone in bright sunlight. The phone remains easy to read, without demanding too much from the battery.
When will we see QDEL?
We hardly see QDEL on new screens anymore. In fact, you cannot get devices that already use this screen technology. It is expected that QDEL will be used more by large companies in 2026. Even then, it will take a while before we see the first QDEL devices. The new screen technology will probably first come to televisions and computers, but Apple will probably first bring QDEL to the iPhone.
Also read: Apple Watch gets a new screen (and that is better than OLED)
There seems to be a good chance that Apple will ultimately choose QDEL. The biggest advantage of the screen technology is that there is no risk of burn-in. Unlike OLED, QDEL is not made from organic materials. While OLED can burn (one of the disadvantages of the screen technology), this is not possible with QDEL. This makes the new screens extremely interesting, which is why it is expected that Apple will switch to QDEL for the iPhone in a few years.
For the time being, it is still too early for that and Apple is sticking to the OLED screens on the iPhone. This year we will also see an OLED screen for the first time on the iPad Pro. Apple usually first uses the new screen technology on the iPhones. It therefore seems like a matter of time before we see the first iPhones with a QDEL screen. We’ll probably know for sure in a few years, only time will tell.
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