Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 Screens Compared: It's a Tie

One of the most important features on any smartphone is its display, since it's how the user experiences every single app, piece of content or message via the phone. So how does the screen on the brand-new Samsung Galaxy S4 fare? One display expert decided to find out.
Testing a pre-production unit from Samsung, DisplayMate's Raymond Soneira found that the large, high-res screen of the Galaxy S4 is a "major" upgrade from its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. In comparing it with the iPhone 5, however, he found the two phones each had strengths and weaknesses, declaring the contest "a tie."
The Galaxy S4 boasts a 5-inch full HD display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. That adds up to a dense 441 pixels per inch (ppi), but there's a catch, says Soneira. The screen is a PenTile display, which means it doesn't have as may subpixels as an LCD, instead letting pixels "share" subpixels for displaying some content so as not to lose apparent resolution.

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PenTile technology works very well for videos and photos, but when it comes to things such text — where precise pixel placement matters more — edges can sometimes get fuzzy. But that doesn't happen on the GS4, Soneira says, simply because the pixel density is already so high.
"There are 312 red and blue subpixels per inch, which is only a few percent lower than Apple'e benchmark 326 ppi iPhone retina display," he wrote. "Visually the Galaxy S4 PenTile display delivers excellent visual sharpness across the board."
The screen on the Galaxy S4 uses OLED technology instead of the more common LCD tech found on the iPhone 5 and most other phones. Samsung is the world's leading supplier of OLED displays in phones, and it shows, Soneira says. Although OLEDs typically aren't as bright as LCDs, the test found the GS4 to perform well in high ambient lighting, 25% brighter than the GSIII. It was about 15% less bright than the iPhone 5's display, though.
Although the test found the iPhone 5 to be "significantly" brighter than the Galaxy S4, Samsung's flagship has better screen uniformity, darker blacks and — notably — much better brightness off-angle. Viewed from the side, the iPhone 5's brightness drops 60% at just a 30-degree angle whereas the GS4's decreases just 22%.
You can check out the full write-up, along with comparison tables, over at DisplayMate.
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