iPhone X OLED burn-in test puts Galaxy Note 8 to shame

Korean website Cetizen recently performed an extreme burn-in test with the iPhone X, comparing Apple's latest and greatest iPhone model to the performance of both the Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. The test involved subjecting all three smartphone models (which feature OLED displays, which are notably vulnerable to burn-in) to 510 hours of showing a static image at full brightness. Apple's handset blew both of Samsung's models away.

OLED displays are great, but as with all great things, there's a downside. That downside, in this case, is a propensity for burn-in, which is the appearance of a 'ghost image' that persists on the display even when that graphic element isn't active in the system. Any static image can result in burn-in if left on the display too long; it's a problem that appeared very quickly on some Pixel 2 XL handsets, for example.

Apple has taken steps to mitigate potential burn-in issues on the iPhone X, which itself features an OLED display. To see how well the handset withstands burn-in — and comparing it to Galaxy S7 Edge and Note 8 for good measure — Cetizen subjected the three phones to what amounted to nearly a month of burn-in image testing.

Things initially appeared disappointing for the iPhone X, which started to show faint signs of burn-in after about 17 hours of displaying a static image. However, the burn-in faltered around that point and failed to get any worse despite the many, many hours of additional testing. The iPhone X performed excellent overall.

On the opposite end of that spectrum — that is to say, the losing device — was Samsung's Galaxy Note 8, which demonstrated severe burn-in at the 510-hour mark, so much so that you can easily make out the static image (and its colors) that was used during the test. The Galaxy S7 Edge wasn't so severely affected, though it didn't hold up as well as the iPhone X.

Cetizen provides several close-up images of the three displays post-test here.

SOURCE: Twitter