Which display panel is better, LCD or AMOLED panel? This is a topic that people have been arguing about. The core of this debate actually revolves around two different sub-pixel technologies used to convert digital signals into what we can see. Due to different processing methods, these two types of panels differ in color reproduction, black level, brightness, and energy efficiency.

LCD is the older of the two panel technologies, but it also gives it more time to develop and improve itself. Currently, many high-end smartphones and tablets use this panel, including the LG G3, HTC One M8, and Sony Xperia Z series.

LCD stands for liquid crystal display. The principle of this display technology is based on polarized light filters and color filters. The former is used to control the brightness of each color pixel, while the latter is used to determine the color of pixels from the standard red, green, and blue primary colors, and then mix these colors in different amounts to reconstruct all the colors between them.

By using filters on vertical and horizontal panels respectively, polarization effects that block light can be generated. Basically, the initial light source will scatter in all directions, and the polarization filter can fix it in one direction. Due to the biaxial component, the original light source can pass through vertical or horizontal filters. And vertically polarized light cannot pass through a horizontal filter, and vice versa. By combining vertical and horizontal filters, light can be completely blocked, which is the default state of LCD pixels.

Then it's time for the liquid crystal to come into play. There is a nematic LCD that can be turned on or off between horizontal and vertical pixels. When turned on, the LCD will twist and rotate the light 90 degrees, which means that horizontally filtered light can pass through the vertical filter. Each pixel's LCD is controlled by a transistor and can be turned on and off multiple times per second to display different brightness levels. Now, we can filter the light into different colors and control the brightness of each pixel.

The backlight behind all pixels produces white light, and the white light in each pixel is filtered into different brightness and color. In addition, backlight will also be used to adjust the overall brightness of the display screen.

Yes, this technology is a bit complicated in restoring colors, so the performance of LCD panels in color restoration is not perfect. Blocking the light passing through the first layer of polarization filter may create some trade-offs, and there may also be light leakage issues with the backlight when bypassing the filtering level.

AMOLED is a relatively new technology, and its name gives us a rough understanding of its working mode. AMOLED does not have a single layer backlight and a large number of pixel filters, but instead uses millions of individually controlled organic LED light sources.

The AM in the AMOLED name represents the active matrix, representing the transistor switching technology used to control each LED pixel. The active matrix continuously drives a single LED through transistors, even if other LEDs change state. By contrast, the passive matrix is controlled by an X/Y-axis array, which means you must refresh rows and columns individually or simultaneously to change the state of individual pixels.