According to a report from Korea IT Times, AMOLED technology makes LCD technology obsolete. If the publication is to be believed, AMOLED will soon replace LCD, in the same way LCD displays have replaced tube CRTs. The big advantages of AMOLED over LCD that Korea IT Times cites in their article is that the panels can be can be manufactured at even higher resolutions than the iPhone 4S’ 326ppi retina display (upwards of 350ppi), while individual pixels create their own light instead of filtering a backlight. This means that the contrast ratio can be higher while avoiding the viewing angle issues inherent to polarized LCD screens.

Photos from  Korea IT Times. Nothing says “AMOLED” like sliding the contrast and saturation bars as far as they will possibly go.

But I’d take the paper’s immediate prognosis with 20% of the daily recommended serving of sodium. There is a danger in this congratulatory article that AMOLED’s superiority may be a matter of national pride for Korea IT Times. AMOLED is a display technology closely associated with Samsung and LG, both South Korean companies. It’s fair to say that the South Korean media may be prone to being more favorable of a technology that would entrench their country as a world leader in the display market.

While AMOLED displays have some considerable strengths, they are not without their weaknesses. Because they create images by directly producing light, portable AMOLED displays can be more difficult to read in bright sunlight. While the materials inside AMOLED displays wont burn in, like some LCD or plasma screens, they will degrade over time.

Apple hasn’t yet switched from LCD to AMOLED, the Cupertino-based company continues to use high quality IPS-TFT LCD screens for their phones and tablets, and are still considered market leaders in terms of their devices’ displays. Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate, for example, has gone on record saying that the third generation iPad displays a virtually perfect 99 percent of the Standard Color Gamut, favoring the iPad’s screen over not only other tablets and smartphones, but “most HDTVs, laptops, and monitors.”

That photograph of an AMOLED’ TV sure looks great on my old laptop’s crappy screen…

Do you think deeper blacks and better viewing angles are more important than the overall accuracy of color representation? Would you prefer an AMOLED screen over IPS LCDs in your phones and tablets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.