Screen burnout: what is it and how to deal with it?

Based on materials from android-softwares.com

If you have ever had to participate in the debate about which screen technology is better, LCD or OLED, the conversation must very quickly turn into a terrible and terrible burnout OLED screens that, over time, are inevitably doomed to the appearance of disgusting-looking artifacts, while LCD screens are relieved of this problem. But, as is the case with most of these controversies, there is no less inflated speculation than real facts.

Perhaps you yourself have never encountered this notorious burnout, but for many buyers choosing another expensive device, this is a matter of very real concern. How justified is it? Let's try to figure out what screen burn-in is, why it happens and how to avoid it.

What is screen burn-in?

The word 'burnout' in itself is not correct enough and can be misleading, because this process has nothing to do with combustion or high temperature. This word means permanent fading of the screen in any part of it. It may appear as faint text or the outline of an image that appears on the display. At the same time, the screen works normally, but we can see this faded outline on it when it is turned on. In order to accurately determine this defect as screen burnout, it must be permanent and relate specifically to hardware problems, and not to graphics freezes, which may be caused by some software or even a display driver.

The term “burnout” itself is associated with an earlier stage, when CRT monitors dominated, in which the phosphorus components, whose glow allowed the transmission of an image, lost their properties over time. LCD screens can suffer from the same problems, but this happens much less often due to the design LCD of the panel.

The same can happen with a modern smartphone with a OLED screen, although this is not as noticeable and does not look as bad as on an old CRT device. That is, if you do not know what we are trying to see, it will not be so easy, and for signs of burnout to appear, it will take a lot of screen time. In smartphones, burnout is most commonly associated with navigation buttons and notification bar. The photo below shows the burnout using the example of the text input area.

Why is this happening?

Any screen burnout is caused by the different cycle of its light-producing components. As these components age, their brightness changes, so the color reproduction of the screen will gradually deteriorate over time. All screens are prone to color fading as they age, and this effect can be partially offset by smart software. However, some parts of the screen age faster than others. And this can gradually change color in some areas of the screen more than others, forming a kind of 'ghost' image that is noticeable when looking at a burned-out display.

In the case of modern smartphones and smartwatches, screen burnout is a result of the different 'lifespan' of red, green and blue subpixel diodes that are used in OLED screens. As mentioned, the parts of the screen that we see the most, such as navigation buttons or the notification bar, are most affected.

This happens because these areas most often display the same colors, a certain image and / or text, and the rest of the screen over time reproduces more or less diverse information and, accordingly, different sets of colors due to the display of different content – web -sites, videos, applications, etc. Therefore, the pixels in these areas are used in different ways and, accordingly, age differently, and as a result, the color rendition as a whole does not change so much. Switching to transparent and color-changing UI elements Android after implementing Material Design principles also reduced the intensity of screen aging.

OLED displays are made up of red, green and blue LEDs, but different colors have different lifespan

From a technical perspective, the problem is that blue LEDs are much less intense than red or green pixels. Therefore, in order for the blue pixels to glow as brightly, they need to be supplied with more current. And a higher current leads to faster degradation of the pixel, shortens its life, and this ultimately makes the screen go into reddish or greenish tones. So the colors in the OLED screen do not degrade evenly, gradually the screen will go into a red or green tint.

So, part of the screen displays a blue or white picture for a longer period of time, blue pixels in this part of the screen degrade faster than in other areas. That's what screen burn-in is.

Can this be avoided?

In this situation, manufacturers are doing their best to avoid potential problems, and they are already taking a number of sensible steps to prevent burnout. In particular, Samsung began to use the arrangement of subpixels according to the Pentile principle (warm hello to vigilant Indians who at first glance distinguish the notorious 'pentyle'!) In their AMOLED displays starting from the Galaxy S3. By increasing the blue subpixel, you can reduce the current it takes to get the same amount of light. And if we use less current, the diode lives longer, and therefore, noticeable changes will occur much later.

This is not directly related to the problem of uneven aging of different areas of the screen, but it means that aging will come later than in the case of older or cheaper OLED panels.

There are also software solutions to the problem. Manufacturers of products with Android Wear can enable the OS 'burn-in protection' option. This mode periodically changes the content displayed on the screen by a few pixels, so that different colors are displayed more or less evenly. Smartphones with Always-On technology like the Galaxy S8 use the same tactic. Google also suggests following a selection of burn-in design guidelines when developing products for OLED watches.

What can I do?

If your smartphone screen has already burned out, there is almost nothing you can do about it. In the Play Store, you can find applications that promise to cope with the damage done to the screen, but in fact they simply 'burn out' the remaining areas so that the colors become equal, and it is difficult to call this solution ideal. Such “afterburning” of the screen only further shortens the life of the smartphone, and if a partially burnt-out screen can be used, then a completely burnt-out screen is no longer there.

But if you are just wondering how to prevent the problem, here are some tips for you to prolong the happy life of the screen and avoid the burn-in effect:

1. Decrease the screen brightness. Higher brightness requires more current, which, as already mentioned, shortens the life of the diodes.
2. Reduce the time the screen automatically turns off. Turning off the screen quickly after you stop using it prevents static interface elements from displaying for a long time.
3. Use Immersive Mode if possible. It hides the notification bar so that static elements are no longer displayed. Alternatively, select a launcher that offers this feature, as well as a transparent navigation bar and options for the list of running applications.
4. Choose a wallpaper with darker colors and change it often.
5. Use a keyboard with darker themes to reduce color degradation at the bottom of the display.
6. If you regularly use a navigation app for long trips, choose one that has a minimum of bright interface elements.

Conclusion

So screen burn-in is not something to worry about when choosing a new smartphone with OLED screen. Modern panels live much longer than earlier OLED smartphones, but even with them screen burn-in was more rare than the norm. Therefore, everything looks simple for you: do not leave a static image on the screen turned on at maximum brightness 24/7!

But if the screen of a modern smartphone has worked for several years, screen burnout will be noticeable. In any case, measures to prevent rapid wear and tear and extend the life of the screen will not be superfluous.