Samsung Is Only Tablet Maker Giving iPad 2′s Display a Run for Its Money
Although the first wave of Android tablets couldn't hold a candle to Apple's iPad 2 when it came to screen quality, analysis firm DisplayMate says the latest Galaxy Tab model offers a significantly better display …
Context & Ripple Effects
When DisplayMate ran its tablet display shoot-out in June 2011, the verdict was bleak for Android: the iPad 2 led, with the Xoom and Transformer trailing. This new analysis closes the loop — the latest Galaxy Tab is now the only Android slate whose screen gives Apple's a real contest.
That reframes Samsung's year. Back in March, its pitch was physical: the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was hands-on thinner than the iPad 2, even as critics noted thinness alone wasn't moving buyers. With DisplayMate scoring the display, Samsung finally has a quality argument rather than just a dimension argument — meaningful against the backdrop of analysts projecting years of Apple tablet dominance.
First-order effects
- Samsung walks away with an independent third-party endorsement it can put in Galaxy Tab marketing, directly blunting Apple's 'best screen' claim for the first time since launch.
- Motorola and Asus lose their standing as the leading Android alternatives on the one hardware attribute reviewers treat as most visible.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android tablet makers face pressure to source higher-quality panels, which funnels demand toward the suppliers who can deliver them — with Samsung itself among the largest display manufacturers.
- Tablet review criteria shift: after a spring dominated by thickness and camera comparisons, display measurement becomes the differentiator analysts test first.
Third-order effects
- If panel quality keeps deciding tablet purchases, vertically integrated players like Samsung gain structural leverage over less integrated rivals, since they control both the device and the critical component inside it.
- Independent lab benchmarks like DisplayMate's harden into de facto procurement standards for the category, raising the cost of entry for any Android vendor competing on hardware merit.
The trend: Tablet competition in 2011 is migrating from industrial design (thinness, weight) to display technology, where Samsung's vertical integration makes it the only Android vendor positioned to match Apple.