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iPhone 6 Plus Display Judged 'Best Smartphone LCD Ever Tested', iPhone 6 Also Solid

Monday September 22, 2014 8:45 am PDT by Eric Slivka
DisplayMate, which routinely performs thorough testing of display quality on a variety of electronics, has released its iPhone 6 Display Technology Shoot-Out, taking a look at the performance of Apple's latest handsets using new "Retina HD" technology. While DisplayMate's Ray Soneira has not shied away from criticizing Apple's displays on some recent devices, he found the iPhone 6 Plus to have the "best performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever tested" while the iPhone 6 also scored well in testing.

iphone_6_display
While the "best ever" designation includes the caveat of applying to LED displays and DisplayMate continues to rate the OLED display from the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as the best overall smartphone display, the gains seen in the iPhone 6 and particularly the iPhone 6 Plus are impressive.
Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the iPhone 6 Plus is the Best performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever tested. It delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance. The iPhone 6 Plus is only the second Smartphone display (LCD or OLED) to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except for Brightness variation with Viewing Angle, which is the case for all LCDs) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The iPhone 6 Plus has raised the bar for top LCD display performance up by a notch.
In particular, the iPhone 6 Plus display sets new records among LCD displays for peak brightness, low reflectance, and several measures of contrast and accuracy.

DisplayMate finds the iPhone 6 display to have many of the same strong areas of performance as in the iPhone 6 Plus, but the lower resolution and pixel density hold the smaller model back somewhat.
Most rescaled images look noticeably better on the iPhone 6 Plus with 2.1 Mega Pixels compared to just 1.0 Mega Pixels on the iPhone 6. In addition, even at the native display resolution, fine text and graphics look better on the iPhone 6 Plus if you look carefully and closely at the screen (because you may want to or need to).

The display on the iPhone 6 is none-the-less still a Very Good display, and most buyers will be happy with its performance, but it’s somewhat disappointing that Apple went for satisfactory as opposed to the best.
DisplayMate's report includes a variety of charts and tables comparing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to the iPhone 5/5s that are worth a look, as well as some discussion of how LCDs such as those found in the latest iPhones compares with OLEDs favored by Samsung.

[ 309 comments ]


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ironman159
65 months ago
My personal opinion is that these are the best smartphones on the world right now. These screen tests are just the tip of the iceberg :D
Rating: 46 Votes
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Sonmi451
65 months ago

Great display on the Plus. Disappointing on the poor resolution on the 6. Only reason I went with the Plus. I love it, but it is a big phone!


Poor resolution? It's 720p+ in a 4.7" screen! That's pretty amazing.
Rating: 27 Votes
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Sonmi451
65 months ago
I have the regular 6. Easily the best phone I've ever owned. It feels great, size is perfect, and the screen is amazing.
Rating: 25 Votes
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TimUSCA
65 months ago

Playing with one over the weekend - the IP6+ display indeed gorgeous

I can't way to order one, but supply is constrained :(


I went to AT&T and was pissed when I first saw the display because I thought it was a fake model. The screen is SO good, and SO on the surface, that I thought it was printed. It was't until I touched it that I was all "ohhhhhhh damn!"
Rating: 24 Votes
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Trapezoid
65 months ago

Funny to see the Apple fanboys changing their speech from "anything above Retina resolution is completely worthless, you can't tell the difference!" to "OMG, the iPhone 6+ resolution is SOOOO great!!!111!!" :rolleyes:


Even funnier to see people thinking all apple users have or should have the same opinion [emoji57]
Rating: 22 Votes
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Teste
65 months ago
Funny to see the Apple fanboys changing their speech from "anything above Retina resolution is completely worthless, you can't tell the difference!" to "OMG, the iPhone 6+ resolution is SOOOO great!!!111!!" :rolleyes:
Rating: 21 Votes
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SPUY767
65 months ago

But...But....the iPhone 6 ONLY has a 1080P screen resolution...that's so two years ago.


I love this argument. People fail to understand that there is more to being good that a dick measuring contest over numbers. A 5MP DSLR will take vastly better pictures than a 18MP point and shoot.
Rating: 17 Votes
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maflynn
65 months ago
Playing with one over the weekend - the IP6+ display indeed gorgeous

I can't way to order one, but supply is constrained :(
Rating: 16 Votes
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AppleFan115
65 months ago
When a screen becomes this good, colors are more vibrant, words are pin sharp, everything is more brilliant. Because when a screen becomes this good, it’s simply you and the things you care about. The stunning Retina HD Display, on the new iPhone 6.
Rating: 15 Votes
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4jasontv
65 months ago
Testing also identified that it was the newest display.
Rating: 14 Votes

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