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Galaxy S27 Ultra display upgrade will be pointless for me but some of you will love it

Your mileage may vary for one of the display upgrades coming to the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra next year.

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra leaked colors and design
The Galaxy S27 Ultra will be a phone of firsts. | Image by Ice Universe
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The Galaxy S27 Ultra is picking up a display upgrade that, on paper, might be a very minor change for the majority of Samsung’s customer base. However, it is also an upgrade that, according to you, might finally allow a subset of users to switch to Samsung at long last.

Galaxy S27 Ultra display upgrade


Samsung is going to use its M16 panel for the Galaxy S27 Ultra and the new Galaxy S27 Pro. Due to how the display is designed, this will be the first time that a flagship Galaxy phone will use DC-dimming instead of PWM dimming, which Samsung has historically implemented with very low frequencies.

In a poll, we asked you if you were part of the minority of users who are affected by low-frequency PWM dimming. Almost 85 percent of you said that you were not, which is very close to the predicted percentage of around 90 percent of users being unaffected by low-frequency PWM dimming.

For others, a usable Samsung phone at long last




Around four percent of voters said that they were affected by this display dimming technology and that is why they used the “display pulse smoothing” option on the iPhone. This feature doesn’t completely negate the ill effects of low-frequency PWM dimming but it certainly helps to an extent.

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Lastly, a little over 11 percent of respondents said that low-frequency PWM dimming affected them, which is why they stuck with other phone manufacturers instead of Samsung and Apple. What about you?

Poll
Are you sensitive to low-frequency PWM dimming?
Have your say!


Pointless for me, excellent for many others


People who are sensitive to low-frequency PWM dimming — resulting in eye strain, headaches, nausea, and more — have long criticized Samsung for falling so far behind Chinese competitors, which use much higher-frequency PWM dimming.

With the Galaxy S27 Ultra, Samsung is likely to use a hybrid dimming system. PWM dimming will be used at low brightness levels to preserve color accuracy and DC dimming will be used at medium and higher levels of brightness to decrease fatigue.

Interestingly, though the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max use the M16 panel as well, Apple has still opted to use only PWM dimming for both models. While I, thankfully, am fine with low-frequency PWM dimming, the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be the first time many of you will be able to use a Samsung phone without needing to throw up.

Learn more about the Galaxy S27 Ultra:

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