DisplayMate: iPhone X display has the best color accuracy of “any display we have ever tested”, top full screen brightness of OLED-equipped phones at 634 nits
Dr. Raymond M. Soneira President, DisplayMate Technologies Corporation Copyright © 1990-2017 by DisplayMate Technologies Corporation.
Context & Ripple Effects
The iPhone 7 held DisplayMate's mobile-display crown a year ago as the best LCD the lab had tested, so the iPhone X marks Apple's first attempt to repeat the feat on OLED — a panel technology where Samsung's Note8 had just set the benchmark with an A+ grade and 1,200-nit peak brightness two months earlier.
Dr. Raymond Soneira's verdict matters because DisplayMate's 'best ever' designations have become a recurring trophy exchanged between Apple and Samsung flagships, one that both companies cite in marketing.
First-order effects
- Apple can market the iPhone X as the most color-accurate display DisplayMate has ever tested, validating its first OLED iPhone even though its 634-nit peak brightness trails the Note8's 1,200 nits among OLED phones' top figures cited by the same lab.
Second-order effects
- Samsung's response is already on the calendar: the Galaxy S9 arrives claiming the highest absolute color accuracy and peak brightness, aiming to wrest the 'most innovative and high performance' title back from Apple's first OLED entry.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, display accuracy and brightness records reset every flagship cycle, making third-party lab validation like DisplayMate's a standing battleground in the Apple-Samsung rivalry rather than a one-off review.
The trend: Smartphone display leadership is oscillating between Apple and Samsung flagships, with each generation resetting DisplayMate's accuracy and brightness records.