September 11, 2025
In the current digital era, display screens have become an indispensable part of people's lives and work. From mobile phones, computers to televisions and outdoor billboards, various types of display screens keep emerging. Understanding the classification and working principles of display screens helps us make better choices and use related devices more effectively.
Currently, the common display screens can mainly be divided into several categories: LCD (liquid crystal display), OLED (organic light-emitting diode display), Mini LED, and Micro LED.
LCD display screens are the most widely used type. They are mainly composed of a backlight layer, a liquid crystal layer, and color filters, etc. Their working principle is to utilize the optical anisotropy of liquid crystals, adjusting the transmittance of light by controlling the arrangement state of liquid crystal molecules. The backlight layer emits white light, which passes through the liquid crystal layer, where the liquid crystal molecules rotate under the action of an electric field, changing the polarization direction of the light, and then passes through the color filter for filtering, forming different color pixels, and ultimately presenting a rich and colorful image. LCD display screens can be further classified into TN-LCD, IPS-LCD, etc., among which IPS-LCD has a wider viewing angle and better color performance, and is more commonly used in high-end mobile phones and displays.
OLED display screens are a self-illuminating display technology that does not require a backlight layer. Its core is an organic light-emitting diode. When an electric current passes through, the organic material emits light. OLED display screens have each pixel that can independently emit light and turn off, which makes it have extremely high contrast, purer black representation, and faster response speed. Depending on the driving method, OLED can be divided into passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) and active matrix OLED (AMOLED). AMOLED has more advantages in resolution and display effect and is widely used in smartphones, smartwatches, etc.
Mini LED is a new display technology developed on the basis of LCD. It can be regarded as an upgraded version of LED backlight. The LED beads of Mini LED are smaller, usually ranging from 100 to 300 microns, enabling more precise area control of light. Its working principle is to use a large number of Mini LED beads as the backlight, combined with the LCD panel for display. Due to the significant increase in the number of zones, Mini LED display screens can precisely control the brightness of each area, significantly improving contrast and the layering of the picture, and also having excellent performance in color representation and dynamic range. It is often used in high-end TVs and displays.
Micro LED is a more advanced display technology. Its LED beads are smaller, generally ranging from 1 to 10 microns. Micro LED is also a self-illuminating technology, with each pixel consisting of one or more Micro LED chips, capable of independently controlling brightness and color. Compared with OLED, Micro LED has higher brightness, longer lifespan, better stability, and lower power consumption. It is an important development direction of future display technology, but currently its production cost is high and has not been widely popularized.
Different types of display screens have their own advantages and disadvantages. When choosing, we can consider them comprehensively based on the usage scenario and requirements. With the continuous advancement of technology, we believe that in terms of picture quality, performance, and cost, display screens will bring us more surprises in the future.
