Galaxy S8 "Infinity Display" Graded By DisplayMate

Another year, another Samsung Galaxy flagship. Which means another chance for DisplayMate to review the Galaxy S8's screen and rank it among others in the market. Given that DisplayMate has consistently crowned Samsung's premium smartphones as the best in OLED class every year, it's hardly surprising to hear it do so again this time. It is, however, interesting to hear just what made DisplayMate think so.

The Samsung Galaxy S8's Infinity Display, probably named after infinity pools whose surface drops over the edges, is undoubtedly a beauty to behold. Almost without bezels, users are almost distracted by how the screen seems to magically floats in the air or on your hand. That, however, isn't really an objective measure of a panel's quality. For that, you have to measure the screen's color accuracy, brightness, and power consumption.

In all those regards, DisplayMate says that the Galaxy S8 is a step up from the Galaxy S7. The almost 3K (2960x1440) resolution screen is able to achieve a brightness of 1,000 nits, a color gamut of 113% for the newer DCI-P3 and 142% of sRGB. It supports a unique HDR mode and always-on display, apparently driven by a separate, dedicated chip.

Bigger, denser, and more powerful, you'd think that the Galaxy S8 would consume more power than its predecessor. Well, yes and no. In theory, it should, but DisplayMate's tests reveal that, at least as far as power draw is concerned, there isn't much of a difference between the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S7. That implies that Samsung has significantly tuned up the power efficiency of the Galaxy S8 so that a more powerful screen doesn't consume more power than a less powerful one.

Of course, the screen, although important, is just one part of the whole equation. While the Galaxy S8 solidly remains the king of the OLED hill, it has yet to be tested in all other aspects before Samsung can be considered "safe" this year.

SOURCE: DisplayMate