5G is a new technology that could potentially change the way we use our phones, but right now it’s also a buzzword, and it’s a business that companies are too happy to abuse. Whether it is Verizon announcing that it is bringing mmWave 5G to the four corners of the street in a random city, or AT&T lying with its glorified LTE “5GE”, the 5G abuse never seems to stop, and now Samsung announces a new “optimized” OLED screen because – you guessed it – 5G.
The basic changes in this new generation of OLED screens include a further reduction in blue light emissions, which is believed to be aimed at protecting your eyes from harmful color, although more recent studies question this conclusion. Either way, it was certified as an “eye care screen” by SGS with an additional 1% reduction in blue light compared to the company’s latest generation, and energy consumption was reduced by 15%, which should lead to an improvement in battery life.
And then we come to 5G. This new screen is all that extra G – very Targeted improvements G. The company goes so far as to say that it is an “OLED screen optimized for 5G smartphones”, with all the quotes from executives connecting it to 5G. In fact, just under half of the press release, by word count, mentions or alludes to 5G.
For strangers, 5G has almost nothing to do with your phone screen. It’s a complicated subject, but apart from any physical restrictions in the design caused by things like placement of the antenna, the display is absolutely one of the few areas in which it has precisely no involvement. Unless Samsung piles up additional mmWave antennas in the OLED substrate, apart from the incidental energy savings that benefit all, all the 5G-specific tweaks are just marketing bullshit. Samsung might as well add AI, a few blockchains, and a pinch of cloud to the word marketing while it is there.
Unless there are delays or obstacles such as the coronavirus, these new screens will probably be found in future Samsung devices like the Note20 (if it follows the S20 by jumping to ten digits). Of course, don’t forget to get an optimized 5G screen protector, or all those important the benefits disappear.
