By using an exclusive design of lighter OLED panels, Samsung wants to accelerate the adoption of a technology borrowed from smartphones: On Cell Touch AMOLED (OCTA). A panel technology which also has the advantage of being (theoretically) more environmentally friendly.
After relaunching last year in Europe (including France) the marketing of portable PCs, Samsung is preparing to pass the second by launching a new generation of laptops with a technological advantage: thinner and lighter OLED touch panels. A major producer of OLED panels for many outlets (TVs, tablets, smartphones), the Samsung Display division has designed an OLED panel with so-called technology for the Samsung Electronics division. On Cell Touch AMOLED or OCTA.
Already used in small sizes – including smartphones – OCTA technology reduces the thickness and total weight of touch screens. Because instead of using a film integrating touch sensors, an OCTA panel integrates the sensors directly within the emitting part. The announced thickness reduction gains vary between 6% and 11%, but we don’t know more about the weight gain. But in this area, any reduction is good to take.
According to Samsung – and this is an unsubstantiated assertion for the time being… – OCTA has a positive effect on the environment “thanks to its simplified structure”. Difficult to give a blank check to the Korean without more precision. But one can imagine two ways of seeing the thing: either it is simply a question of the subtraction of an element (the tactile film), or he considers that the absence of this film facilitates recycling.
The industry is switching to OLED
According to Samsung, the first OCTA panels launched will therefore be ” built into high-end Galaxy Books displaying a refresh rate of 120Hz with a 16/10th ratio and 3K definition. No need to be a great cleric to imagine a definition of 2880 x 1800, an (almost) 3K standard. This does not prevent us from regretting that Samsung does not make the effort to go up to the 3/2 ratio of the Matebook Pro and other Surfaces, still a notch more comfortable than the 16/10th.
Read also: Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED test: the real competitor of the MacBook Air, it’s him! (Nov 2022)
Samsung Electronics is following in the footsteps of many industry players who see OLED as a way to stand out from the competition, especially in stores where OLED panels and their infinite contrast contrast with LCD panels. These OCTA panels should soon arrive in PCs from other brands. Because if Samsung Display serves its “sister” division here, there is no reason why it should not offer to other players. Like at Lenovo or Asus, both of which are developing more and more models based on OLED technology. The Taiwanese Asus being the only one to extend it from the entry level to the more luxurious models. And with the development of panels with refresh rates of 240 Hz, more and more OLED gaming machines should see the light of day. Giving even more weight to a technology that was, barely three years ago, still confined to smartphones and other high-end TVs.
The Galaxy Book laptops integrating these new OLED touch panels with OCTA technology should be announced during the “Samsung Unpacked” scheduled for February 1st.
Ars-Technica
