What you need to know
- A rumor claims that Samsung may introduce DC dimming to the Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra.
- The company is reportedly working with "various safety firms" to understand how to reduce eye strain on its future Galaxy phones.
- Nicholas Sutrich dove deep into PWM dimming and DC dimming once upon a time, and his feelings side with the latter that's more human-friendly.
Amongst all of the Galaxy S27 series rumors, this one deserves some attention. Rumors claim Samsung might start taking eye strain reduction seriously.
Rumors about this stem from tipster Walle on X, who states Samsung is looking to integrate new eye strain reduction tech into the Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra (via Android Headlines). The post claims both devices could benefit from DC dimming. It's been reported that Samsung is allegedly beginning to "collaborate" with "various safety firms to understand how to lessen eye strain problems."
Walle adds that these improvements (and more) will arrive for Samsung's Eye Comfort Shield. Currently, you can find this option in your Galaxy device's Display settings. When toggled, your device will limit its blue light by using warmer colors. Moreover, it will automatically adjust your screen's colors based on the time (if set to automatic).
On the surface, this rumor sounds like a win for people who suffer from headaches and eye strain when using their phones for extended periods. But there's more to know, considering Samsung's Galaxy phones already use PWM dimming.
PWM or DC dimming?
We love using our phones. What hurts is having to stop. Whether you're reading or watching a show or playing a game, the last thing you want is to feel a horrendous headache. If we can have phones that reduce that risk for those prone to it, that'd make the user experience that much better. We're paying hundreds and even thousands for these phones. Why are side effects included?
My former colleague Nicholas Sutrich was the person to go to whenever PWM dimming was brought. But what is it? In Sutrich's own words, "...modern smartphone displays don't dim like they used to, or even like a traditional lightbulb. Instead, they often rapidly turn on and off to fool your eyes into seeing a dimmer image."
This is Pulse Width Modulation (PWM dimming). This is a piece of technology most commonly used in OLED and AMOLED. Sutrich said, "Companies use PWM dimming because OLEDs can exhibit visual problems when trying to dim them like a traditional light source." However, the most clever ones realize they could "just turn it on and off very rapidly, and the human brain does the rest."
While PWM dimming is fine, Sutrich felt that DC dimming is better. DC-like dimming on OnePlus phones activates when your brightness is over 25%. If it dips below this line, the phone reverts to the crazy flickering of PWM dimming. Why? Sutrich said, "This is because, unlike PWM dimming, DC-like dimming never turns the entire display off when it refreshes. There's just a small brightness drop as each pixel is refreshed."
Hopefully we see this change for the Galaxy S27 Pro and S27 Ultra, but who knows.
