Serious Discussion PWM OLED flickering (Phones)

[Ink]

This may not be a popular subject, when buying a new Phone everyone wants the best OLED display.

If you are sensitive to OLED flickering, then PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) affects you and could be the cause of your headaches.

Here are some phones people can still buy in 2024:

Best phones for PWM/flicker sensitive people 2024

Get rid of those headaches by getting the right phone.

www.androidcentral.com

The only comparison site that I've seen where PWM is measured is Compare Smartphones by Tests and Specs - NanoReview under Display Tests

PWM is not detected on LCD displays, therefore it does not affect the phone user, ie. iPhone 11 has a LCD display.

OLEDs with higher PWM Hz are better than lower Hz. Not to be confused by refresh rate Hz.

ie. iPhone 13 Pro has a higher PWM rate than the iPhone 15 Pro. Making it a better option for sensitive eyes.

The pulsations can be bad for your health and more specifically for the users’ eyesight. They can lead to migraines, headaches or other forms of discomfort after long-term usage. In most cases, those pulsations have a frequency somewhere around 200Hz. They cause multiple contractions and expansions of the pupils, which bears down negatively on your health.

Source

More help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PWM_Sensitive/

 

[Bot]

Thank you for sharing this valuable information. It's indeed crucial to consider PWM and OLED flickering for those sensitive to it when purchasing a new phone. The resources you've provided will be beneficial for our members to make informed decisions.

 

[Marko :)]

I'm not sure if I'm PWM sensitive and I always and only buy phones with high PWM displays. Phones with high PWM displays also have blue-light protection technology built into display while those with low PWM and flickering issues don't. This is also one of the reasons why I keep avoiding Samsung devices; they don't care about PWM and all their devices have flickering issues. Their displays are also too bright for me and plain white, which affect display lifespan in the long term.

I currently have Xiaomi's Poco X5 Pro (which has very high PWM at 1920Hz) that I bought on 01/04/2023 and it's pretty much awesome device. I still haven't found any flaws to it. When you buy Xiaomi device, you just need to uninstall all Mi apps you can without damaging the HyperOS and device will become ad-free, and without background connections to suspicious hosts. You just connect phone to the PC and via ADB delete all the app you don't need in a few minutes, really impressive. Instead of preinstalled Mi apps, I installed free Google ones or open source ones without ads and I'm satisfied with them.