Beijing time on September 10, for Android phone users, the rest screen display (always-on display) is not a new feature, but Apple until the iPhone 14 to launch this “all-day display” function, but also really some different, or can also say better.
This technology has been around for a long time. Nokia introduced this feature on its N86 8MP phone as early as 2009. Google, Huawei, Xiaomi and other companies have all introduced phones that support rest screen display.
Real rest screen display
The rest screen display enables the phone to display basic information such as date, time and notifications even when the phone is locked and placed on the table. Typically, the phone’s display will not stay on and will only show the most important parts. For example, on a Google Pixel phone, you might see a black screen with only the clock and some app icons lit up. This feature is especially useful because you don’t need to tap the phone or pick it up to see important information.
Apple is changing that paradigm. It’s implemented a little differently, and perhaps better: Instead of leaving most of the screen off, Apple’s rest screen display technology stays always on, just dimmed down a lot.
Apple’s resting screen display is not a shutdown screen
The new version of iOS 16, which will be released next week, will add widgets and other complex features to the lock screen. With the rest screen display technology, all of these widgets and complex features will be visible on the iPhone 14 screen, even when the phone is not in use. The big difference with Apple’s rest screen display technology compared to Android machines is that the iPhone will continue to show your lock screen wallpaper, colors, and all, but it will be dimmed significantly, but the whole screen will really be “always on”.
New technology is more energy efficient
So why has Apple waited so long to add this feature? At least one reason is that it’s waiting for a technology that will make its rest-screen display screen perform better than its competitors.
First, Apple had to wait until the iPhone used an OLED screen. On an OLED screen, only the pixels that are lit need power (LCDs need backlights), and they can all be lit to varying degrees. This is common to OLED displays of all sizes, whether it’s a phone, smartwatch, or TV, and it makes OLED screens more energy efficient than other types of display devices. The rest screen display takes advantage of this unique feature, which puts much less strain on the battery than in a “fully lit” state.
New technology helps Apple achieve a rest screen display
The OLED screen is just a foundation. While every iPhone 14 comes with an OLED screen, only the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are equipped with the additional hardware necessary to support the rest-screen display technology. Apple marketing director Greg Joswiak said that the Pro model’s rest screen display is made possible by “a range of new technologies that make the display incredibly energy efficient,” including multiple co-processors in its chipset.
Dynamic refresh rate
The screen on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max dynamically adjusts the screen refresh rate from a power-hungry 120 Hz all the way down to a low-power 1 Hz, meaning it only refreshes once per second.
Technically speaking, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max utilize a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) screen to dynamically adjust the refresh rate. It also allows “the display to intelligently dim the entire lock screen,” according to Joswick. Similar technology can be found on the Apple Watch Series 5 and newer (excluding the Apple Watch SE) as well as some Android phones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. This is a fairly new technology for cell phones, and it’s not found on all devices.
Before and after Apple’s rest screen display
To support a rest screen display, a phone doesn’t necessarily need to use an LTPO screen. Mainstream Android phones used LTPO screens close to a decade ago, such as the Moto X in 2013, and even Nokia’s Lumia 925 Windows phone was released in a limited version, but one thing these old and new models have in common is that they don’t offer the same rich screen experience as the iPhone 14 Pro.
It’s unclear how much Apple’s rest screen display feature affects battery life, but reviews of the Apple Watch Series 5 show that the LTPO screen and low-power display driver it used previously delivered excellent battery performance. And, reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra also show that it is able to use LTPO technology to be more energy efficient in the rest screen display mode, even though the overall battery life expectations for this phone are not ideal.
Compared to a few years ago, the iPhone 14 Pro model is a much bigger leap forward than the base iPhone. While users are expecting a better camera and some other exclusive features, the rest screen display is an obvious and useful change for those who see it in person.
Foreign media believes that although Android phones introduced the rest screen display technology early on, they still need to work hard to catch up and make their screen information more colorful.
