The Evolution of Samsung Display Screens: From SH100 to Galaxy S8

In 2017, Samsung GALAXY S8 was acknowledged as the ultimate leader among smartphones. The device earned this high rank because of its new design and advanced display technology.

In fact, the Samsung company had to work really hard to get this result. Let us look at their long ladder to success and recognition.

10 years ago a product description for a mobilel phone did not have the display type specification. Back in 2008, the important information was the number of lines the screen could display. All early mobilel phones had monochrome LCDs.

This technology – the technology of producing liquid crystal displays – initiated in 1930, but it was first put into practice in 1960. The principle of LCD operation lies in electric field influence on liquid crystals. In this way you can reach the desired optical effect, for example, change the image form. Displays with dot-addressable graphics appeared in 1975; those were the displays used in telephones. An important feature in mono displays was glass substrate. They often used ground glass, which reflected light but didn’t reflect the surrounding objects.

1988 – SH-100

SH-100 was the first model of Samsung analogue mobile phones with a display. It had a tiny display and it was impossible to read text messages. Only a dialed / incoming number could be seen. What’s more, all mobile phone displays were monochrome then; therefore, the electronic image on the display was always black.

1994 – SH-770

Next Samsung model still had a mono display, yet a bigger one. Its 3-lined display allowed for showing icons, numbers and menus.

1998 – SCH-800

Not only did this model offer a new design, but it also had a big display. The SCH-800 display was 8-lined with 128 × 64 resolution. Due to these considerable changes, users could send and read text messages (SMS). However, the display was still monochrome.

2000 – SH-A2000

SH-A2000 was one of the most popular models at that time. The telephone had two displays: internal and external. The external screen was 3-lined and blue-backlit. The internal 128 × 64 display was 5-lined and green-backlit. However, with no fundamental changes in the display technology, displays remained monochrome.

Let there be color!

2002 – SCH-X430

SCH-X430 was a huge hit among Samsung mobile phones. This device still had a small external mono display, but the main – internal – display was a color TFT display.

TFT display used thin film transistors to improve image. Transistors create an electric field that organizes the arrangement of liquid crystals. For a display to be colored, special filters were used. It was then that mobile phone specifications started mentioning the display type. Its specification was a TFT display.

Coming back to SCH-X430: the display was 10-lined and its resolutions was 128 × 160 pixels.

The SCH-X430 started the tradition of mobile phones with a TFT display.

2002 – SCH-V300

In this model, the display had 2 lines more and the main color display had a color resolution of 262,140. This device special feature was a built-in camera. However, there were no special changes in the external display.

2005 – SCH-B250

The year of 2005 brought another revolutionary Samsung model – SCH-B250. It was equipped with the same 320 × 240 display having 262,140 color resolution.

The design underwent a 180-degree turn. The external display was replaced with navigation keys used to play MP3 files, and the main screen became bigger and could rotate 90 degrees. Apart from standard mobile phone functions, it had DMB and TV streaming features. This was a real breakthrough.

AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode)

This technology uses organic light-emitting diodes to build an image on the active matrix surface. OLEDs are controlled by thin film transistors. Each OLED has its own transistor that changes the electrical potential, which makes a LED change the color gamut and intensity. Thanks to this operation principle, you can achieve high definition and contrast images.

In 2009, the Samsung company started producing first smartphones with AMOLED displays.

2009 – SCH-W850

SCH-W850 model became a pioneer in the Samsung smartphone lines. It was a first full-fledged smartphone with a sensor screen, which is so common now. The SCH-W850 display diagonal was 3.5" (as a comparison, the diagonal size of the first TFT display was 2.04"). At this point, producers stop mentioning number of lines in display specifications.

2010 – GALAXY Series

In 2010, the world was introduced to the first smartphone of the Galaxy line.

All devices of this series had (and still have) SUPER AMOLED displays. We are going to let you in on a little secret: the SUPER AMOLED name was devised by marketing experts from Samsung . The image transmission technology of SUPER AMOLED displays is almost identical to AMOLED technology. The major difference lies in touch and display integration, which means that the touchscreen is not laid atop the display. Such design is also called a display module. This new feature allowed for eliminating an extra air gap. According to developers, such a display reflects 5 times less sunlight than a regular AMOLED display. The text is clearly visible even in direct sunlight.

Between 2010 and 2014, each new GALAXY model got a new advanced display version. The display size and resolution were gradually increasing, and other standard specifications were improving.

The whole time, Samsung and Apple were competing for the title or a global leader. Until recently, the Apple Inc. always won this completion.

Then something changed in 2015. Samsung launched GALAXY S6 Edge and rightly won the place of the world's leading smartphone vendor.

S6 Edge became the first curved screen smartphone that was mass produced so that every person could buy it without problems.

In fact, it brought about a kind of revolution in smartphone design. Many brands were trying to launch a similar product but only Samsung soared to success. The curved display became something new and fashionable.

All GALAXY Edge models use SUPER AMOLED displays.

2017 – GALAXY S8 Edge

The year of 2017 is coming to a close and Samsung has proven again to be a leader – they retained their crown after launching GALAXY S8 Edge. Without any doubt, this device has rightfully earned its leader position. GALAXY S8 Edge display became its landmark again – it filled the whole front part completely. You may have noticed that the HOME button is no longer there. The display smoothly flows into the smartphone body – with barely-there bezel; therefore, the smartphone perfectly fits in the hand. Following the established tradition, the display has become bigger, just by 0.7".

As you can see, the evolution of displays has played a key role in the world leadership race. Now we just need to wait for the Spring 2018 product release announcement and see how Samsung will be trying to outdo themselves. And for the record, another brand may become the market leader in the coming year. Who knows…