OLED displays use organic materials that emit light when electricity is applied. OLEDs enable emissive, bright, thin, flexible and efficient displays. OLEDs are replacing LCD displays in mobile devices and TVs.

Samsung's Super-AMOLED displays, announced in January 2010, are AMOLED displays with an integrated touch function. In a Super AMOLED display, a touch-sensor is placed over the display (on-cell). The thickness of the touch sensor is just 0.001 mm and this allows the screen to provide better images and to have great visibility even in direct sunlight (Samsung says that they perform 20% better than regular touch AMOLED outdoors).

In 2010 or so, achieving an HD resolution in a mobile phone was a great achievement, and Samsung used to market those displays as Super AMOLED HD or HD Super AMOLED display to make sure people know these are HD displays. Today, as most high-end mobile displays sport Full-HD (or even higher) resolutions, Samsung no longer adds the HD before or after the Super AMOLED.

Further reading

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The latest Super AMOLED HD news:

Samsung sold over 10 million Galaxy Note phones in 9 months

Samsung announced that they have shipped over 10 million Galaxy Note phones, since launching it nine months ago. The Note is very successful, and Samsung will announce its successor on August 29 (and it may or may not sport a flexible YOUM plastic-based AMOLED display).

Samsung's Galaxy Note is a large Android v2.3 phone/tablet (some call it a phablet) with a 5.3" Super AMOLED display with an HD resolution: 1280x800. Other specs include a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor, 8mp camera, touch display with pen input (it has a stylus). The phone is 9.65mm thick and weights 178 grams.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 17,2012

Samsung sAMOLED UT displays unveiled at court

Samsung and Apple has a long history of legal battles, and during court Samsung submitted some evidence that detail a couple of upcoming Windows 8 phones, the Odyssey and the Marco. Both use sAMOLED (super AMOLED) displays, but we're mostly interested in the Odyssey - which will sport a 4.65" HD Super AMOLED UT display.

This is the first time I see Samsung use 'UT' after an AMOLED display. It's not clear what is this designation. It may be that this phone will use Samsung's plastic-based "flexible" YOUM displays - which will be unbreakable and very thin (UT=Ultra Thin?). But then I would have guessed they would have said "YOUM" and not sAMOLED. Samsung also has UT series of LCD TVs, and in those the UT means a very thin bezel (2.4 mm on the bottom and right, and 4.3 mm on the top and left) - so perhaps that's what they mean here too.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 01,2012

Samsung sold over 10 million S3 phones

Back in June Samsung said it hopes to sell 10 million Galaxy S3 phones by July. Today Samsung confirmed that by mid July they reached their sales target, even though they faced some component shortages.

The S3 has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU (1.5Ghz dual core in the US), 1GB of RAM (2GB in the US) and an 8 mp camera (1080p video) and lot's of new software features. The phone weighs 133 grams and is only 8.6 mm thick.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 23,2012

DisplayMate presents a Galaxy S range shootout - sees rapid performance improvements

Raymond Soneira, our friend and display guru from DisplayMate have posted a very interesting and detailed comparison of the OLED displays in the Galaxy S, SII and SIII phones. He says that while all three OLED panels performed very well, there has been a rapid and significant improvement in OLED performance (especially power efficiency) in just 2 years.

Raymond says that high-end LCDs are brighter and more power efficient than OLEDs for text and web applications. OLEDs are better for photos and videos. He also says that while the performance is excellent, it's been compromised by Samsung's implementation choices - especially the low brightness due to power constraints (although low reflectence on those devices mean that high brightness is not critical in most situations).

Read the full story Posted: Jul 12,2012

Samsung expects to ship 10 million S3 phones by July

Update: in mid-July Samsung confirmed that they have shipped over 10 million S3 phones, a slight delay but still a very good rate...

Samsung estimates that it will ship 10 million Galaxy S3 phones by July. They say it's hard to keep up with the demand to the new phone, and the company didn't secure enough mobile components. There are concerns that sales will be lower then expected in the current quarter, although Samsung's mobile chief says that supply issues will be resolved next week.

The S3 has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU (1.5Ghz dual core in the US), 1GB of RAM (2GB in the US) and an 8 mp camera (1080p video) and lot's of new software features. The phone weighs 133 grams and is only 8.6 mm thick.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 26,2012

Sprint: overwhelming demand for the Galaxy S3, delays shipments

Sprint says that they got "overwhelming" demand for the Galaxy S3. So much in fact that they ran out of devices. Those who pre-ordered the 16GB model should recieve their S3 tomorrow, and 32GB pre-orders will ship next week. The S3 pre-order numbers were very strong according to Samsung, and it seems that the S3 is on track to becoming a very popular phone...

The US version of the S3 has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a dual-core 1.5Ghz CPU, 2GB of RAM and an 8 mp camera (1080p video) and lot's of new software features. The phone weighs 133 grams and is only 8.6 mm thick.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 21,2012

Samsung's Galaxy SIII now shipping from AT&T for $189.99

According to Amazon, the Galaxy S3 is now shipping for AT&T for $189.99 (including a contract of course). I think that's the first carrier to actually ship this phone in the US. The Galaxy S3 US model has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a dual-core 1.5Ghz CPU, 2GB of RAM and an 8 mp camera (1080p video) and lot's of new software features. The phone weighs 133 grams and is only 8.6 mm thick.

The S3 pre-order numbers were very strong, and it seems that Samsung has another winner at their hands, we'll be sure to hear from Samsung about actual sales numbers soon.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 16,2012

Engadget reviews the S3: the display is great, better than older AMOLEDs

Engadget posted a review of the Galaxy S3, and while they think the phone is excellent, they're not sure if the S3 is the best Android phone on the market, with the main competitor being the HTC One X. They love the 1280x720 4.8" Super AMOLED HD display, and say that there are real visual improvements over the Galaxy Nexus. The colors aren't over-saturated and there's no unnatural blue-ish tint.

Regarding the controversial PenTile technology, Engadget says that it isn't so visible because the screen is large and you tend to hold it from a little bit further than in smaller phones. But it still makes text a bit fuzzy, and so if you like reading on your book, maybe it's better to choose a non-Pentile phone (I personally think it's better to use a dedicated e-paper e-reader if you actually want to read).

Read the full story Posted: May 27,2012

UK carriers see very high Galaxy S3 pre-orders

We already heard reports that Samsung got nine million pre-orders for the upcoming Galaxy S3 already, but today we got some confirmation from UK carriers. Carphone Warehouse says that the S3 is the "quickest-moving pre-order of the year so far" and Vodafone UK say it's the most pre-ordered Android device to date. The S3 is also available unlocked in the UK, for £499.95, or $808 (that's a sim-free, 16GB model). According to Amazon it will ship on May 30.

It seems that the S3 is set to  surpass the company previous best-seller, the Galaxy S2 which in February 2012 passed the 20 million units mark.

Read the full story Posted: May 24,2012

Reports say Samsung got 9 million S3 pre-orders worldwide already

Reports say that Samsung already got nine million pre-orders for the upcoming Galaxy S3, and that's before it was launched in the US. It seems that the S3 will surpass the company previous best-seller, the Galaxy S2 which in February 2012 passed the 20 million units mark.

The S3, Samsung's flagship smartphone, has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB of RAM and an 8 mp camera (1080p video). The phone includes several new software technologies: voice recognition, gesture control, smart sharing and intelligent camera features. Amazon are now offering the Galaxy S3 unlocked for $799.99, and will ship it on June 1st.

Read the full story Posted: May 19,2012