Back in 2008, in the early days of the smartphone era, Samsung introduced the active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED). To avoid getting too technical, AMOLED was a huge advancement in touch screen tech at the time, which, back in the mid-to-late 2000s, had still been quite reliant on the liquid crystal display (LCD) system.
LCD was bulky, was fragile, and didn’t provide the most high-quality definition that AMOLED could. So naturally, AMOLED took the lead and has become the gold standard for all smartphone screens. Experts from screen repair shops cite AMOLED’s ability to withstand a fair amount of beating while still retaining its capacitive capabilities and its ability to display things in high definition (HD).
AMOLED may not be perfect: it is known for having a few issues such as turning green and burned-in images. But by and large, it’s been the standard screen for all smartphones over the past 11 years or more.
But all that is about to change.
What’s New?
In March of 2020, tech experts leaked news that Samsung, the same company that pioneered the AMOLED screen, applied for a trademark for a product simply called “Samsung PIFF.”
It was quickly approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. While the document doesn’t reveal much about the exact details of the product (other than “display screen of a smartphone”), the repercussions are clear: the tech giant is brewing up something major.
We will, of course, find out more after we receive the second-gen versions of the Samsung Fold and the successor of the S20. But at the moment, we do have a few guesses of what the Samsung PIFF is.
What is the Samsung PIFF?
Based on the leaked trademark document, there’s not much to go on regarding the Samsung PIFF screen, but it does seem like no organic light-emitting diode (OLED) will be present. This means that we can postulate the following things about the PIFF’s construction:
- It can be a type of panel screen that has yet to be announced.
- It can be a type of micro-LED or mini-LED.
- It can be a derivative of OLED optimized for 5G-ready smart devices.
The micro/mini-LED angle is the most accepted theory among tech experts because one, it’s the one that makes the most sense. Micro-LED displays, after all, can solve the problem of burned-in images by better spreading out large images. Two, we know that Apple is furiously trying to catch up with Samsung in this realm.
Micro-LED panels also seem to be the choice material for future smart screens, if only because the current trend of smart screens is going a particular direction.
The Future of Smart Screens
The future of smart screens is clear: consumers want flexibility and transparency. Currently, TCL and Samsung are at the forefront of this trend, with the Samsung Fold and TCL’s concept “roll-able” smartphone.
Both smartphones rely on extremely flexible smart screens that, while seemingly futuristic, have actually been around since the early 2010s. Flexible touch screens use a combination of the LCD and OLED technologies. While the tech has been around for a while, the problem of implementing it stemmed from powering the display, which, at the time of its inception, took up a vast majority of battery life.
But now that we’re seeing leaps and bounds in smartphone tech, the future of smartphone screens is bright and bendy.
