LTPO stands for low-temperature polycrystalline oxide and it’s a type of technology used in some OLED displays in current generation smartphones. Let us understand in detail.
What is LTPO Technology?
LTPO is a mix of low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) and another material called indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) which allows them to overcome the limitation of LTPS i.e. change the refresh rate of the smartphone screen dynamically.
The above is just the technical or, I would say, the chemical definition of LTPO. Let us understand it in simple terms. Nowadays, you must be noticing the following display or screen feature specs in some of the high-end smartphones –
- ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
- DISPLAY Type LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED Screen
- Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO)
- Always‑On display
Some of the latest smartphones having this technology are:
- Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro
- Oppo Find X5 Pro
- Vivo X100 Pro
- Xiaomi 12 Pro
- Google Pixel 6 Pro
and a few more. Mostly you will see brands putting this technology in their high-end lineups, like, the Pro or Ultra series.
Benefits of LTPO in the Smartphone
Some of the benefits of using LTPO in the smartphones are:
- Better battery life
- Smoother performance
- Reduced eye strain
Let’s talk about the first point – Better battery life. The rest other two are self-explanatory.
In the alternative LTPS technology, the low-temperature polycrystalline silicon is used to control the pixels on the screen. This works well, but it has limitations. For example, the refresh rate (how often the image updates) is usually fixed, which can translate to a comparatively bad battery life.
Imagine you’re reading a book on your phone. The text doesn’t change much, so the screen doesn’t need to update super fast. An LTPO display can drop the refresh rate to, say, 10Hz, which saves battery. But if you start playing a game with lots of action, the display can crank up the refresh rate to 120Hz or even higher for smoother visuals.
By adjusting the refresh rate, LTPO displays can use less power, which means your phone or tablet will last longer on a charge. LTPO displays can also help in adjusting other things, like brightness and color temperature, to improve battery life and image quality.
Since it is a relatively newer and expensive technology, right now it is not being used extensively in all smartphones.
Hope this information about LTPO was helpful and all the doubts are clarified.
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