Samsung 90Hz OLED Laptop Displays Take Aim At 120H LCD Screens

It is almost standard for higher-end smartphones these days to have screens with high refresh rates, some even going as high as 144Hz. These mobile devices, however, are just catching up to laptops and desktops that have long utilized such a feature, often for gaming advantages. That, however, doesn't mean there's no more room for innovation there, and Samsung's new panel for laptops tries to prove that by pitting 90Hz OLED against 120Hz LCD displays.

LCD and OLED display technologies have long been battling it out in the market, from TVs to monitors to smartphones. Some might have declared OLEDs the winner, but there are still many benefits to LCD screens. Traditionally, one of those has been refresh rates, with LCD screens going as fast as 240Hz.

OLED technology is starting to catch up, though, and one of its biggest proponents is pushing for a new trend in the display market. Samsung just announced the mass-production of its 90Hz OLED panels for laptops, kicking off another skirmish between the two display technologies.

Fast refresh rates are a piece of cake for LCDs, of course, but Samsung argues that higher refresh rates also require more power than usual. LCDs are already known for consuming more battery than their equivalent OLEDs, so this only adds even more power consumption. While 90Hz naturally looks worse than 120Hz, Samsung claims that its 90Hz OLED has a shorter blur length of 0.9mm, a 10% improvement over a 120Hz LCD that supposedly translates to less motion blur.

Although Samsung is only now announcing the panels' mass production, its 14-inch 90Hz OLED panels were already in use on the new ASUS Zenbook and Vivobook Pro laptops. The company also took the opportunity to advertise what it says are the market's first 16-inch 4K OLED screens, also on ASUS laptops, that further push the envelope when it comes to OLED screens.