Tech - News
How To Fix OLED Screen Burn-In
By GABRIEL MOSS
OLED screens produce exceptionally rich colors and deep blacks, due to the self-lit nature of each pixel. However, OLEDs come with one major drawback: screen burn-in, which is when an OLED TV’s organic pixels are rendered permanently unable to display anything other than a specific image and can occur when the same image is displayed on a screen for too much time.
This is a bit different from image retention, in the sense that burn-in is completely permanent, whereas image retention should be able to be reversed by lowering the brightness on your TV or activating any anti-burn-in features available on your device. Image retention could also be reversible through regular use, just as long as it hasn't yet advanced to burn-in.
This means that prevention is your best tool against burn-in; otherwise, you may be looking at replacing the panel or even the entire device. LG and Sony TVs do have built-in prevention like local dimming, ABL (automatic bright level), panel refreshing, and screen savers that can help keep your OLED from displaying a bright image for too long.
Smartphones, such as iPhones, generally use an AMOLED display, and like OLED screens, these may also be susceptible to burn-in. You can get away with regular usage habits on most phones without ever experiencing burn-in, especially if you make sure you use dark backgrounds, dark mode for web pages, and lower your brightness.
The Nintendo Switch OLED is low risk for burn-in, but there's a direct preventative measure offered on any Nintendo Switch device connected to an OLED TV and that's the Screen Burn-In Reduction setting. Other than that, you may want to use the Nintendo Switch's dark background when navigating the home menu and a shorter sleep timer.