Burn in and Image Retention

Reports from Korea suggest that Apple plans to introduce its first OLED iMac all-in-one desktop computer in 2029, and is already in talks with both Samsung Display and LG Display for the supply of large-area OLED panels. The production of the display panels is expected to begin by the end of 2028.

LG Display is developing a new 5-layer stack architecture for Apple. According to the reports, LGD's highest-end 4-layer stack, while meeting Apple's color gamut requirement, does not meet Apple's brightness and lifetime (burn-in) requirements, and so it has to design this new architecture, that adds a third blue OLED emitter layer.

A few days ago we reported that TCL CSOT is launching commercial production of inkjet printed OLED panels at the company's 5.5-Gen line, and today two companies formally announced the first products to utilize these panels. This is an exciting moment for the OLED industry - we already had commercial inkjet production by JOLED years ago, but the company did not manage to reach full-scale production. Hopefully TCL CSOT with its T8 large-scale 8.6-Gen line will fare much better.

The first product is the premium MSI Pro Max OLED 271UPJW12, based on a 27" 4K (164 PPI) 120Hz and Real RGB Stripe side-by-side subpixel structure. The monitor integrates MSI's OLED Auto Care Compensation Technology, to mitigate burn-in.

Rrings.com posted a very interesting article, in which they detail the results of their ongoing TV longevity test, in which they test 102 TVs to see which one lasts the longest. The test has been going on for three years. In general - most TVs were fine for the first 10,000 of use, but 20 TVs died during the test and 24 suffered from some sort of damage.

The most interesting takeaway is that OLED TVs actually suffered from less failures than LCDs. Most people assume that the lower lifetime of the organic materials (compared to the in-organic LEDs and LCs used in LCDs) means that the TVs are less reliable. But OLED burn-in has been consistently shown to be mostly a non-issue for most consumers, and the LED backlighting has a much higher chance of failure.

Three months ago we reported on an interesting OLED burn-in test performed by a YouTuber called Monitors Unboxed, on an MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED monitor. After this long 4,500 hours (18 months) deliberate testing, the results were that there's a continual, gradual degradation, but not a drastic effect. This was very good results, considering the test style.

Monitors Unboxed is now back, and they share the results of the test, that is now in its 21 month, or over 5000 hours of use - see video above.

A YouTuber called Monitors Unboxed, launch an extensive OLED burn-in test 18 months ago, to check the MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED monitor. After this long 4,500 hours deliberate testing, the results are shared in the video below.

First of all, it's important to note that these tests do not represent real gaming or work image patterns - showing only (or 95%, to be honest) static images is the worst-case scenario for OLED image retention. In any case, the YouTube says that after about 12 months, the monitor is just beginning to show some 'annoying' burn in. After 15 months - "there's been a noticeable increase in the visibility of the main artefacts in uniform dark grey test images," though only a small change.

Medical display maker DIVA Laboratories, announced that it has successfully integrated OLED displays into ultrasound imaging systems, saying it overcame long-standing challenges with burn-in and panel lifespan.

The company did not detail the specification of its OLED displays. It does say that it overcame the lifetime and burn-in challenges by applying proprietary image control technologies—including Off RS, Orbit, and JB algorithms—to achieve greater stability and image consistency. DIVA says that it is now looking into adopting OLED displays in other medical domains.

LG Electronics is going to add screensaver ads to its TVs, including its high-end OLED TV range. It seemed the company has already started testing this new feature, which shows full-screen ads, and the company will offer a way to turn the ads off, as it markets the new ad system a "feature".

LG Ad Solutions company announced the new "Native Screensaver Ads" feature, that "capitalizes on idle screen time, turning what may be perceived as a period of downtime into a valuable engagement opportunity".

RTINGS.com posted an interesting article, detailing the results of their long-term (10-months) longevity tests on several OLED and LCD TVs and monitors. The test is simple - display a CNN feed constantly, and checking what happens. Note that CNN changed their logo a bit a few months into the test, but the team did not make any changes to the test itself.

As is expected, OLED monitors and TVs suffer from image retention problems, and the CNN logo is visible in some of these panels, when showing a gray screen. Some TVs suffer more than others. 

Review web site Rtings.com has performed an extensive accelerated longevity test for over three months, testing the latest QD-OLED and WOLED TVs.y 

Rtings reports that both QD-OLED displays (Samsung S95B OLED and the Sony A95K) showed signs of image retention, and it seems in general that the QD-OLED displays suffer from worse problems compared to LG's WOLED. Some of Sony's WOLED TVs also showed signs of image retention.

Japan Display (JDI) announced that it has developed a new OLED deposition technology, which they refer to as eLEAP, that is cost effective and can be used to create OLEDs that are brighter, more efficient, and longer lasting compared to OLEDs produced using mask evaporation (FMM). eLEAP also enables OLED freeform deposition. JDI regards its new technology as a " historic breakthrough in display technology".

eLEAP is based on a lithographic method, and does not require any masks. The main advantage seems to be that OLED displays produced by eLEAP technology can achieve an aperture ratio of 60%, compared with FMM OLEDs which achieve a ratio of about 28%. This means that the OLED displays can be driven at lower currents - which extends the lifetime, improves the efficiency and also enables higher-peak brightness when needed.