Not all phone screens are the same.

Just like how they are TV with plasma, LCD and LED
display screen, the same applies to mobile phones. Most of Samsung's phones in recent years are
using OLED screens which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. On the other hand, Apple
has been using the cheaper LCD screens for all of their models until the release of iPhone X. For
iPhone X, Apple decided to use OLED screen, joining the ranks of Samsung.

The move from LCD screens to OLED screens cause the cost increase of screen replacements
when it comes to mobile phone repairs. To understand why, it is essential to understand the
difference between OLED and LCD.

LCD which stands for Liquid Crystal Display is built on a backlight which is a panel that
produces a continuous white light whenever the screen is on. Filters and polarisers are positioned
and layered in front of that panel to control the light level. This produces the image you view on
the screen. LCD technology is the dominant technology that has been used in the mobile phone
industry for almost 20 years. However, it has a significant disadvantage of using a lot of power.
As the mobile phone is a portable device, anything that draws a lot of battery juice is a big
drawback.

OLED technology was invented to fix this issue. Unlike LCD, OLED eradicates the use of the
backlight. How it works is each pixel has a minuscule amount of organics that lights up when
current flows. The brightness can be controlled at an individual pixel level. Another advantage of
OLED is that because of the backlight removal, OLED screens are thinner than LCD screens.
What this means is that mobile phone manufacturers are now able to produce slimmer phones
that draw less power with the use of OLED screen instead of an LCD screen. While Samsung has
been using OLED for quite some time, Apple had only made the change with the release of
iPhone X. Besides the advantages above, OLED also produces more vibrant colours, darker
blacks and brighter whites with a higher contrast ratio which translates to better images.

However, OLED is a complicated and expensive technology. It is also sensitive. OLED screen
contains a fragile layer of organics which is between charged plates. Any form of exposure to
moisture or damage can permanently kill them. For this reason, it makes refurbishing OLED
tough and reduces the replacement screens supply. Under natural economic conditions, price
increases when supply is low. Without the availability of enough refurbished OLED, it is often
that when a Samsung or iPhone X phone screen needs replacement, it might require the use of a
new or almost new OLED screen. A new or almost new OLED screen would be expensive and
certainly much more costly than a refurbished LCD screen. This is why when you are replacing
your Samsung or iPhone X OLED screens, you should reasonably expect to pay more than what
it would usually cost to replace a phone that uses LCD screen.