A new material for Samsung Display’s OLED panels will increase iPhone battery life،
As many smartphone users already know, their phone’s battery life can be improved by reducing the screen brightness setting. In this spirit, The Elect (via AppleInsider) reports that Samsung Display plans to add blue phosphor material to its OLED displays to reduce the panels’ power requirements. However, the change might not happen until 2026, when the iPhone 18 lineup is expected to launch.
The red and green phosphor materials used in OLED panels both have an internal luminous efficiency of 100%. Blue uses fluorescent materials with only 25% efficiency. So, by replacing the blue fluorescent material with a phosphorescent material, an OLED display should not need to consume as much power as it does today. UBI Research Deputy Director Daejeong Yoon, who attended the Second Half 2023 UBI Research Analyst Seminar in Seoul today, said Samsung is currently working on creating the blue phosphor material.
The material developed by Samsung Display has a lifespan equal to only 55% of the lifespan of the blue fluorescent material used in the M11 OLED material set used on the iPhone 13 series. Despite this, Samsung Display plans to use the blue phosphorescence material starting in the second half of 2025. UBI analyst Yoon said the initial plan was to introduce the new material with Samsung’s line of foldable smartphones in mid-2024, but the analyst notes that “the development of (blue phosphorescent material) does not appear to be going smoothly.
Samsung Display hopes power-hungry OLED panels will be ready for iPhone 18 in 2026
The report adds that Samsung plans to increase the luminous efficiency of the materials by more than 65% compared to the materials used in Samsung Display’s M13 OLED material set which was used in the Pixel 8 Pro and will be used soon on the upcoming Galaxy S24 series. year. The blue phosphorescence material will only be used when the M15 material set is ready.
Yoon predicts that next year’s iPhone 16 lineup and 2025’s iPhone 17 series will both use the M14 set of OLED materials. Samsung is reportedly using a model where Apple devices get the even-numbered OLED material sets and the odd-numbered sets are used by Samsung and Chinese manufacturers. Each set is used for two years.
As a result, it looks like the new blue phosphorescence material won’t be used on an iPhone screen until 2026, which is when, as previously reported, we should see the iPhone 18 series released.
