QLED and OLED are some of the most popular display technologies that you may have come across every now and then. While the former is mostly found on big-screen devices such as TVs, OLED is present on most consumer-based gadgets and gizmos such as smartphones, laptops, monitors, smartwatches and some high-end televisions. Both displays come with their fair share of advantages and disadvantages over each other and function in distinct ways.
In this article, we take a look at how QLED and OLED display technology compares, how it works under the hood, and the benefits of QLED over OLED.
Table of Contents
What is OLED?
- OLED stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diode, which uses extremely small LED lights arranged in a pattern to produce red, green, and blue lights or RGB.
- These lights together form a pixel that turns on and off according to the content that is being displayed.
- The picture or video you see on your screen is because of these pixels working in synchronisation to produce a variety of colours.
- This display technology is made using organic materials.
What is QLED?
- QLED stands for Quantum Light-Emitting Diode which uses quantum dots to emit light. These dots are tiny particles that create an image and produce when a bright light shines right through them
- Many may confuse QLED as a variant of OLED due to the similar naming. However, the panel is a completely distinct technology and is rather more related to LCDs as it functions in a similar way.
- QLED is still relatively a new display technology which was founded by Samsung in 2017.
QLED vs OLED: Which technology is better?
Brightness
QLED displays are generally brighter than OLED displays (popular OLED display smartphones) because they use a backlight that tends to produce significant light as compared to individual OLED pixels. Extremely useful for watching HDR content.
OLED displays on the other hand do get bright to a decent level but not as much as QLEDs.
Winner: QLED
Colours
QLED displays (QLED display TVs) tend to generate more accurate and wide range of colours than OLED which allows you to view realistic and natural tones. OLED, on the other hand, possesses punchy and vibrant colours which some may prefer.
Winner: Tie
Refresh rate
If you’re wondering which technology will be the better pick between QLED and OLED for high refresh rate gaming, then OLED displays (popular OLED display laptops) should be the one you should go for. This is simply because QLED panels don’t have as fast pixel response time as OLEDs.
While you may not notice the difference individually; however, when comparing both display technologies side by side, QLED should come on top.
Winner: OLED
Viewing angles
When it comes to viewing angles, Each pixel in OLED (popular OLED display TVs) technology is able to emit bright light in every direction. Unlike QLED, the display retains its colours and brightness even when viewed from extreme angles.
On the flip side, QLED panels use a backlight to illuminate the screen in which the light goes through several layers before it can be projected on the screen. This causes the light to scatter and results in faded pictures when viewed from side angles.
Winner: OLED
Lifespan
QLED displays may last longer as the panel does not contain any organic components, compared to OLED which is manufactured using organic materials. These materials may degrade over a period of time resulting in a dimmer display with less contrasty colours. However, these effects may only be seen after many years of continuous use.
Winner: QLED
Less prone to burn-in
Burn-in has always been a major concern for displays across devices be it mobile phones, monitors, or televisions. When comparing OLED and QLED displays in this regard, the latter is more prone to burn-ins when a static image or UI element is displayed on the screen for far too long on a regular basis. Burn-ins are reflected by ghost images on the display.
QLED panels on the other hand behave more like LCDs and have a lower risk of burn-ins.
Winner: QLED
Purposes
Since OLED panels are extremely thin and don’t require layers of components to emit light, these are offered in various forms offering a wide range of functionality. For instance, all foldable smartphones boast OLED displays as the technology features a plastic substrate layer that allows OLED to bend while retaining all the properties such as deep blacks, vibrant colours, and decent viewing angles.
QLED displays are currently mostly seen only on televisions.
Winner: OLED
Power consumption
The individual pixels in OLED panels only emit light when required which results in minimal power consumption. Besides that, these panels are inherently energy efficient. QLED technology on the other uses a backlight which needs to be continuously powered up when viewing content. This makes QLED utilise more energy.
Winner: OLED
Affordability
Even though QLED has an edge over OLED panels in some areas, the latter is still more expensive as the process of manufacturing is complex which makes the end product pricey when compared to QLED counterparts.
Winner: QLED
| BASIS | QLED | OLED |
| Brightness | Better | Good |
| Viewing angles | Good | Better |
| Colours | Good | Good |
| Refresh rate | Good | Better |
| Lifespan | Better | Good |
| Prone to burn-in | Less prone to burn-in | More prone to burn-in |
| Purposes | Fewer purposes | Wider range of purposes |
| Power consumption | Less power efficient | More power efficient |
| Affordability | Affordable | Pricey |
QLED vs OLED technology
QLED technology
As mentioned above, QLED technology works identically to LCDs which use liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, colour filters and a white backlight to create images and produce colours on display. However, the white backlight is ditched in favour of a blue LED sheet onto which a layer of red and green quantum dots is added. This helps to overcome the colour inaccuracy of a typical LCD panel. A QLED panel uses blue light in combination with red and green dots to create a perfect white colour.
As a result, the topmost layer, i.e. the colour filter, creates a billion different colours when it receives the perfect white light from the LCD panel as the RGB colours no longer go in different directions.
OLED technology
In contrast, the OLED display doesn’t require any backlight as each LED is capable to produce and emit its own light on the display when an electric current is passed through. To light up the screen of a device, these LEDs are arranged in a particular pattern to make red, green, and blue lights. With these three colours alone, the display is able to produce millions of colours when the pixels light up according to the signal provided by a component responsible for handling the display in a device. Also, when these pixels are completely shut, it results in deep blacks that make up for better efficiency as compared to other display technologies.
QLED advantages and disadvantages
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
| Higher brightness | Inferior viewing angles |
| Accurate and wide range of colours | Blacks are not as perfect as OLED |
| No risk of burn-in | Contributes to the device’s thickness |
| Budget-friendly | Slightly higher response times |
OLED advantages and disadvantages
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
| Deep blacks | Burn-in |
| Superior viewing angles | Deteriorates over time |
| Flexible displays | Costly |
| High refresh rate |
QLED vs OLED: which is better in 2023?
Both QLED and OLED come with their own share of pros and cons. However, since QLED technology is predominantly found on TVs, the comparison can only be drawn with OLED TVs when it comes to practically experiencing both technologies.
Many manufacturers such as Samsung and LG offer a wide range of QLED and OLED televisions. If you enjoy binge-watching content on a large screen, then investing in an OLED TV should be worth it, especially if you have a diagonal seating arrangement in the room. This way, viewers can watch the content from different angles and the image quality won’t be distorted or faded.
On the other hand, QLED televisions boast excellent brightness levels and deliver accurate colours while being less prone to issues like image retention or degradation in panel quality. The downside here is that this display is unable to produce deep blacks and has an inferior contrast ratio than OLED.
FAQs
1. Who should use OLED?
One should go for OLED-based devices such as televisions and monitors if there are no budget constraints. These offer more vibrant colours, better viewing angles and deliver contrasty images making up for an excellent watching experience.
2. Who should use QLED?
QLED displays are commonly found on televisions from brands like Samsung and LG. These TVs are a great pick for those who do not wish to spend a lot. Key advantages of QLED over OLED include accurate colours and less prone to burn-in.
3. How can I prevent burn-in on OLED displays?
In order to prevent burn-in on OLED displays, try to use the device of medium-level brightness and ensure no static element is displayed on the screen for long periods of time.
