DisplayMate: The iPhone 5 Screen is the "Best Smartphone Display" We've Seen

[Akshay Masand]

The folks over at DisplayMate recently posted an extensive analysis of the new iPhone 5 screen with detailed comparisons against the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S III. The results for the test resulted in what one would expect: the iPhone 5 represents the best smartphone screen they’ve tested. This is what they had to say about the test and its results:

Based on our extensive Lab measurements the iPhone 5 has a true state-of-the-art accurate display – it’s not perfect and there is plenty of room for improvements (and competitors) but it is the best Smartphone display we have seen to date based on extensive Lab measurements and viewing tests.

The things they noted in particular was that the iPhone 5 has much lower screen reflections, much higher image contrast and screen readability in high ambient lighting and notably improved color accuracy and picture quality. The overall assessment chart that compares the three devices (the iPhone 4, iPhone 5, and Samsung Galaxy S III) can be found below:



As mentioned before and as can be seen in the chart above, the test concludes that the iPhone 5 significantly outperforms the other two units.

Source: DisplayMate

[LUFT5_THOR]

I love the retina display. The one big turn off on the S3 is the screen IMO. It's dim and washed out looking.

[Crana]

Impossible, the S3 is the best phone in the universe, iSheep are losers, the iPhone 5 doesn't even have NFC and not to ment--- ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz... oops, what was I talking about again?

[charliebee]

One word: subjective.

[Luismiguellopezx]

Well if you look again theirs not a big difference between the two off then only the brightnes and the valibration !!! But all the rest are the same!!! I just say that is your choose to pick what ever phone you want!!! I like big screens but apple really disipoint of me wirh only .5 mi. But the orhers ones are like 5.5 mi. Apple should be more compivitivewith a better screen so i can say ok this phoe sucks for this reason

[shark101au]

Well if you look again theirs not a big difference between the two off then only the brightnes and the valibration !!! But all the rest are the same!!! I just say that is your choose to pick what ever phone you want!!! I like big screens but apple really disipoint of me wirh only .5 mi. But the orhers ones are like 5.5 mi. Apple should be more compivitivewith a better screen so i can say ok this phoe sucks for this reason

You seem to think a bigger screen is better. I wouldn't have bought an iPhone 5 if it had a 5.5 inch screen which quite frankly looks ridiculous. Hell one of the main reason Samsung builds phones with bigger screens is so they can shove more hardware into it, appealing to spec junkies.

Also it is quite apparent the S3's colors are indeed washed out.

[andygev35]

Well if you look again theirs not a big difference between the two off then only the brightnes and the valibration !!! But all the rest are the same!!! I just say that is your choose to pick what ever phone you want!!! I like big screens but apple really disipoint of me wirh only .5 mi. But the orhers ones are like 5.5 mi. Apple should be more compivitivewith a better screen so i can say ok this phoe sucks for this reason

Spellcheck is your friend...

[Mrteacup]

You seem to think a bigger screen is better. I wouldn't have bought an iPhone 5 if it had a 5.5 inch screen which quite frankly looks ridiculous. Hell one of the main reason Samsung builds phones with bigger screens is so they can shove more hardware into it, appealing to spec junkies.

Also it is quite apparent the S3's colors are indeed washed out.

fully agree with you. Larger screens only appeal to a child or someone who doesn't know his stuff! I've been in the smart phone game for a long time Nokia black berries Samsung for a bit but ever since I got the iPhone I would only use the iPhone! Very sensitive touchscreen smart os perfect size great camera awesome universal databases and connections such as iTunes.

[Silverado1987]

You seem to think a bigger screen is better. I wouldn't have bought an iPhone 5 if it had a 5.5 inch screen which quite frankly looks ridiculous. Hell one of the main reason Samsung builds phones with bigger screens is so they can shove more hardware into it, appealing to spec junkies.

Also it is quite apparent the S3's colors are indeed washed out.

Agree as we'll. apple may do things that take longer but they do it the right way.

[mlee19841]

I see a gs3. Let the war begin!

[wukillabee]

You seem to think a bigger screen is better. I wouldn't have bought an iPhone 5 if it had a 5.5 inch screen which quite frankly looks ridiculous. Hell one of the main reason Samsung builds phones with bigger screens is so they can shove more hardware into it, appealing to spec junkies.

Also it is quite apparent the S3's colors are indeed washed out.

I have been debating for some time now between the S3 and the new iphone upgrading from my current iphone 4. Yesterday i was in the ATT store for awhile with a lot of questions and playing mainly with the S3 as i know what an iphone can do. The S3 graphics alone looks like they came out of Windows 98, very outdated and colors do look very washed out. Sure maybe it plays movies and displays pictures you have taken good but for icons or just looking at your phone, looks washed out on the S3, almost blurry at times. Also the android feel was just not fluid to me like iOS is and just overall looked so basic. Colors on the new iphone just like my current iphone 4 are so clean, crisp, icons look like they pop out almost it's so dang clean looking. Sure S3 is open source so you can download themes to make the ugly stock icons look cleaner and have even done my research on this on the xda forums but even themed, still not on the same visual level as iOS and the retina display, not by a long shot! Believe it or not, the iphone 5 also took pictures much quicker and looked much better then the S3 repeatedly pressing the camera button. If you take a picture of say a white wall with both phones, the iphone 5 is very vibrant and full of color. Looking at the same picture taken by the S3, the white is very dark, almost like i took the picture in a dimly lit room with no back lighting. Just in general the S3 displays white terribly, maybe after i transfer the picture from the S3 to my computer it will then be displayed properly but as far as the device goes, comes out like crap. These reasons alone (plus the LTE download speed of both, iphone 5 in ATT store with speed test got a download speed of 90mb/sec while the S3 got 20mb/sec) is why i'm without a doubt getting the iPhone 5. Just now need to wait for a jailbreak for it as i use so many jail broken themes and tweaks!

Just hate how ugly the stock iOS is, only thing you can customize is the wallpaper, bit whoop Apple. Wish i could have a beautifully made theme on my new iPhone 5 when i get it from the creators that post them on here. Lol, can't even put more then 10 apps in a folder on stock iOS, oh so many reasons why a jailbreak is so important. Would even pay good money for one!

[nmoreman]

I also came from a long background of hacking android, hating apple, and got pushed into an iphone for vacation, hating it about the first few days then adjusting.

Just loved the smoothness and the way it worked. I had so hacked my phone to fix everything, battery, colors, speed, etc., it's fun to be open source, but I had to be and just got tired of maintaining it

I do think there is a difference I colors, that is why you can go in and play with the color settings, I had to and got better screen resolution, so look for that if you go that way, make a big difference

I did its the larger screen, so for me, this is the perfect size, it fits in my pocket or purse. And yes, I'm waiting for jailbreak for the tweaks that make it easier to use, especially closing all the apps (miss this the most) by shaking,but again, my issues solved by apple, no maintenance, apps not affecting another, and frozen screens, I now have a phone that works

[PatrickGSR94]

I do think there is a difference I colors, that is why you can go in and play with the color settings, I had to and got better screen resolution, so look for that if you go that way, make a big difference

Screen resolution is the same no matter what you do to it. It's a physical property of the display itself, not just some setting.

[unison999]

I see nothing about color and black.
I'd kill to get S3's black, iPhone's black looks gray...

[shark101au]

I see nothing about color and black.
I'd kill to get S3's black, iPhone's black looks gray...

OLED will always win over LCD when comparing black levels. However the iPhone 5 screen displays far truer colors than the S3.

[Jj2345]

I love my GS3 but it's a Lil to big for my taste,can't wait for iPhone 5 to arrive.only two more weeks to go :-(

[subywrex]

I have been debating for some time now between the S3 and the new iphone upgrading from my current iphone 4. Yesterday i was in the ATT store for awhile with a lot of questions and playing mainly with the S3 as i know what an iphone can do. The S3 graphics alone looks like they came out of Windows 98, very outdated and colors do look very washed out. Sure maybe it plays movies and displays pictures you have taken good but for icons or just looking at your phone, looks washed out on the S3, almost blurry at times. Also the android feel was just not fluid to me like iOS is and just overall looked so basic. Colors on the new iphone just like my current iphone 4 are so clean, crisp, icons look like they pop out almost it's so dang clean looking. Sure S3 is open source so you can download themes to make the ugly stock icons look cleaner and have even done my research on this on the xda forums but even themed, still not on the same visual level as iOS and the retina display, not by a long shot! Believe it or not, the iphone 5 also took pictures much quicker and looked much better then the S3 repeatedly pressing the camera button. If you take a picture of say a white wall with both phones, the iphone 5 is very vibrant and full of color. Looking at the same picture taken by the S3, the white is very dark, almost like i took the picture in a dimly lit room with no back lighting. Just in general the S3 displays white terribly, maybe after i transfer the picture from the S3 to my computer it will then be displayed properly but as far as the device goes, comes out like crap. These reasons alone (plus the LTE download speed of both, iphone 5 in ATT store with speed test got a download speed of 90mb/sec while the S3 got 20mb/sec) is why i'm without a doubt getting the iPhone 5. Just now need to wait for a jailbreak for it as i use so many jail broken themes and tweaks!

Just hate how ugly the stock iOS is, only thing you can customize is the wallpaper, bit whoop Apple. Wish i could have a beautifully made theme on my new iPhone 5 when i get it from the creators that post them on here. Lol, can't even put more then 10 apps in a folder on stock iOS, oh so many reasons why a jailbreak is so important. Would even pay good money for one!

the thing is you cant even (or from what i saw when i had my GS3) change the UI on android.. and if you can it will take some hacking to do.. and it still wont be a complete theme as you would see on a jailbroke iphone. other than maybe linux, i dont relaly know of an OS that even allows you to customize the actual look of the UI (other than the preset adjustments). This is just something that has always been locked down in OS's

OLED will always win over LCD when comparing black levels. However the iPhone 5 screen displays far truer colors than the S3.

the black on my iP5 is black as can be.. not sure what you guys are talking about.

[Channan]

Whenever something is reported in favor of the iPhone, there's always that one person who can't help but spew sarcasm, as if everyone bought the Galaxy S III for the superior screen alone.

And smh at the people saying the Galaxy S III's screen looks washed out. You obviously don't know what washed out means. It's the very opposite of what the Galaxy S III's screen is; too rich in color.

[Silverado1987]

Just watched actual Samsung commercials on YouTube. Who would use those features. And when I walk into a room everyone has iPhones not Samsung galaxy.

[Liveitlive]

You seem to think a bigger screen is better. I wouldn't have bought an iPhone 5 if it had a 5.5 inch screen which quite frankly looks ridiculous. Hell one of the main reason Samsung builds phones with bigger screens is so they can shove more hardware into it, appealing to spec junkies.

Also it is quite apparent the S3's colors are indeed washed out.

I concur.