What is a Super Retina (XDR) display?

Super Retina is Apple’s term for the display technology used in the latest generations of its smartphones. We tell you how good it is for iPhone owners.

Any technology or feature that appears in the mobile industry gets its own name from Apple. This, by the way, makes it stand out from its competitors. The marketing terms for Super Retina and Super Retina XDR displays are also Apple’s idea.

It may seem to a simple person that there is a secret here: what if Apple has some drastic improvements that turn the whole idea of ​​​​mobile phone screens upside down? No wonder there is nothing like this in Android. Let’s figure it out.

What is a Super Retina (XDR) display?

Let’s see what the Cupertinos themselves say. The Super Retina label refers to a display panel made using self-emission organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.

The advantages of OLED displays include a high contrast ratio, deeper blacks, high brightness levels and low power consumption (all compared to LCD). On Apple devices, the XDR option in Super Retina usually implies HDR support, which means improved detail in very bright and dark areas.

In general, in the description of all Apple technology, the word Retina appears constantly. It was first heard during the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010. This was the designation of a screen on which the human eye is not able to distinguish between individual pixels – that is, an image close to analog, which is perceived by the retina of the eye (by the way, “retina” is the “retina”).

But it should be noted that at that time LCD matrices were still installed in the iPhone. When Apple switched to OLED, its screens became known as Super Retina. It’s not for nothing that the liquid crystal display in the iPhone 11 was called Liquid Retina: not Super means not OLED. Apple switched to Super Retina XDR on all later models, with the exception of the budget iPhone SE 2020.

This terminology applies not only to the iPhone, but also to other Apple products – iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook and desktop monitors. The Liquid Retina XDR display is featured on the 2021 12.9-inch 5th Gen iPad Pro, M1 Pro, and M1 Max MacBook Pro.

Is Super Retina XDR better than just OLED?

According to Apple, Super Retina and Super Retina XDR screens have improved visual performance compared to traditional OLEDs. The benefits relate to color accuracy, brightness levels, and color range.

Also, according to Apple, Super Retina XDR displays are less prone to burn-in, which is considered the main weak point in displays based on OLED matrices. The solution to the problem was found in the form of special algorithms that monitor the load on each pixel separately and optimize the screen brightness level for external conditions.

Which devices have Super Retina displays?

Among iPhones, the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max are the owners of this display manufacturing technology. Newer models, including the entire iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series, use Super Retina XDR. In Series 11, only the Pro model received Super Retina XDR.

In general, the type of display in any Apple device is open information. You can easily find it yourself on the Internet, including on the official website of the company.

Super Retina XDR is an analogue of OLED

Some people get the impression that Super Retina XDR is some kind of special, unique Apple development, which cannot be found on any device, especially on Android. Probably, marketers were counting on such an effect, refusing to use the familiar term OLED in product descriptions.

By choosing a device with such a display, you do not lose anything, but on the contrary, you get all the advantages of OLED – deep blacks and bright whites, high contrast ratio, accurate color reproduction, wide viewing angles and reduced power consumption, but this is all true only when compared with LCD.

Source: www.makeuseof.com