Samsung Display Unveils OLED Technology That Significantly Reduces Power Consumption

Samsung Display developers are inspecting the refresh rate changes of a panel equipped with 'Adaptive Frequency' technology using a testing device.

[Photo by Samsung Display]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Samsung Display has unveiled an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel technology that can drastically reduce smartphone power consumption in the 5G era.

On the 12th, Samsung Display announced that it has successfully commercialized the 'Adaptive Frequency' technology, which can reduce panel driving power by up to 22% compared to existing smartphones in everyday usage environments. 'Adaptive Frequency' is a panel technology that automatically adjusts the display refresh rate according to the consumer's usage environment to minimize overall power consumption. This technology was first applied to Samsung Electronics' recently released Galaxy Note20 Ultra.

Adaptive Frequency supports variable refresh rates such as 120Hz for mobile games requiring fast screen transitions in 5G environments, 60Hz for movies, 30Hz for general text checking and input like emails, and 10Hz for still images such as photos and SNS, reducing panel driving power by up to 22% compared to previous levels. In particular, when using still images like photos and SNS, the low refresh rate of 10Hz reduces panel driving power by up to 60%.

Samsung Display plans to expand the application of Adaptive Frequency technology to various IT products beyond smartphones in the future. Additionally, it intends to strengthen technology development by improving material efficiency and optimizing driving components to further reduce power consumption.

Lee Ho-jung, Executive Director of Samsung Display's Product Planning Team, said, “With the commercialization of 5G, high-resolution video streaming and game content are rapidly increasing, making display power-saving technology more important. 'Adaptive Frequency' is a technology that automatically adjusts the refresh rate according to the content on the display to effectively allocate power consumption, which will extend smartphone usage time and contribute to improving consumers' actual usability.”