PWM flicker is here to stay and it's killing our eyes. Burning our retinas right from our very eyeballs. And we can't do anything about it.
OLED has successfully invaded the mobile phone industry. Want a phone with an LCD screen? Go back in time or settle with a mid-range phone. Most of today's flagships are bundled with OLED. A high quality OLED display has a better picture quality, faster response time and true blacks compared to an IPS LCD. One major downside of OLED, though, is PWM flicker.
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PWM flickering?
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) flickering is a rapid flashing of a screen's backlight or pixels used to control brightness, which can cause eye strain and headaches. To reduce this effect, users should keep their display brightness high. Or switch to DC dimming.
DC dimming?
DC (Direct Current) dimming is a technology used to control screen brightness by changing the amount of electrical voltage or current sent to the display. It stops the screen from flickering, reduces eye strain for sensitive users, and works differently than standard Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). But most OLED phones don't use DC dimming.
And we, the people who are sensitive to PWM flickering, must suck it up and endure the migraines, or buy a different device and miss out on good ones.
This is the reason why I'm still using an ancient phone. Because it has an IPS LCD screen. If this phone dies, I'd be scouring the web for an alternative. I already know it won't be a flagship. All the latest mobile features, the foldables, 120Hz refresh rates, powerful processors, among the few, are nothing but fishes inside a public aquarium to me. As long as these have OLED, my eyes be dead. This isn't to say all LCD screens are safe from PWM flicker, it's just most IPS LCD displays use flicker-free DC dimming.
Effects of PWM
For us sensitive to PWM, the eye strain, eye-watering and headache that come with using an OLED display aren't worth it. It's not even the ordinary kind of eye strain that sometimes happens when we stare at a screen for hours. The pain sharply pierces through our eyeballs directly to our brains. Just one experience of it tells you something is wrong.
I paid for the product not the suffering that came with it.
PWM in Handhelds
What's happening in the mobile phone industry is slowly and surely happening in the retro handheld community. Majority wants OLED. Video games do look better in OLED. But for the 5 of us who can't enjoy OLED, we're trained to consider the alternative. Whenever a new shiny handheld comes out, my first thoughts are, "Is't OLED?" "Is't PWM-free?" "Thou hast LCD?"
LCD vs OLED
All this tech jargon isn't really in my area of expertise, so I'll just make a table to illustrate my point.
| LCD | OLED |
|---|---|
| cheaper check | more expensive |
| blacks look gray | true blacks check |
| no burn-in risk check | burn-in risk |
| finite contrast ratio | infinite contrast ratio check |
| PWM-FREE checkcheckcheck | PWM FLICKER THAT'LL BURN YOUR EYES AND MELT YOUR BRAINS |
Moving forward
I'm thankful as more reviewers are testing PWM flickers on OLED devices. Like how low can you drop your brightness before PWM flickering kicks in. Not all OLEDs are bad, but most of them are (for us sensitive to PWM).
Dear brands who make mobile phones, retro handhelds, tablets, anything with a screen,
Please have pity on our eyes. If you can't stop using OLED, please give us an LCD alternative.
Thou hast LCD?
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