Why Do Brands Falsely Advertise LCD Smartwatches as AMOLED?

We’ve been following the budget smartwatch market for years now. Numerous brands have taken over the space, including the likes of Noise, Boat, and Fire-Boltt. While all the companies are in the race to offer the best-looking specifications at the lowest possible price, some have resorted to false advertising. For starters, the budget smartwatch industry runs on key specifications that help a certain smartwatch sell more than the competition. A dedicated SpO2 sensor, a high refresh rate, and Bluetooth Calling are currently the major trends that consumers are looking forward to.

And with the display becoming a crucial factor in smartwatch buying decisions, consumers often also demand an AMOLED citing its better quality, power efficiency, and features like Always-on. But since it’s more expensive to source or manufacture an OLED, brands like Fire-Boltt and Crossbeats have turned to falsely advertising some of their LCD smartwatches as having AMOLED panels. With the popularity these brands have in the current market, people usually trust what they claim on their product listing pages. And many end up wasting their money buying a watch completely different from what’s on paper.

How to Find if Your Smartwatch Has a Fake AMOLED Display?

If you, too, have purchased a smartwatch that claims to have an AMOLED but doesn’t feel so, do not worry. Here are handy tips for verifying if your smartwatch has a fake AMOLED or an LCD instead. Read on.

Check the Screen Pixel Arrangement

All electronic displays are made of tiny pixels in a grid-like arrangement. These pixels glow together to produce the images. LCD displays contain liquid organic pixels that are illuminated by an underlying backlight. On the other hand, AMOLED has organic pixels that are capable of illuminating themselves. The pixels on an LCD are arranged in a simple Red-Green-Blue format called RGB. OLEDs contain a grid of red, green, and blue subpixels usually laid out in a PenTile or diamond arrangement, i.e., is Red-Green-Blue-Green. And when observed under a microscope, you can easily differentiate between an OLED and LCD.   In the video above, Rakesh from Gyan Therapy observed the IPS LCD and AMOLED using a microscopic lens. And looking at the pixel arrangement on the Crossbeats smartwatch vis-a-vis the one on the Galaxy Watch with OLED, it was clear that the former had an LCD, and the brand was lying about it on its product page.

If you see pixels laid out in a regular parallel arrangement, it’s likely a regular LCD. In this case, you’ll also see a backlight bleed across the screen, unlike the OLED panel.

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Check for Backlight on a Black Watch Face

Download this black wallpaper, set it as your smartwatch’s current watch face using the custom watch face option, and observe the black area on the screen. While LCD uses a backlight, AMOLED turns off the pixels to show black colors or areas on display. And hence, when you set a completely black watch face on your smartwatch, it should show true black and not bleed any light. If the image displays with color bleed (cloudy white patches) and appears more like greyish black instead of pitch dark, it’s likely an LCD. This is how you verify if your smartwatch has an LCD or AMOLED display. Here’s more on how to find the display type of your smartwatch.

Why is an AMOLED Smartwatch Better than LCD?

Having a smartwatch with an AMOLED display has certain advantages, as shown below:

AMOLEDs are known to have excellent brightness and contrast levels.The pixels turn off to show black color. As a result, you get true blacks.Unlike LCD, there’s no backlight. Pixels can turn on and off individually, which saves battery life.You can enjoy the always-on display without significantly impacting the battery.AMOLEDs take up less internal space than LCDs, allowing the manufacturer to make slimmer smartwatches.AMOLEDs are also flexible. For instance, Apple Watch uses flexible OLEDs for slimmer and curved bezels.

At the same time, there are certain disadvantages too. AMOLED is more expensive to manufacture, resulting in cost-cutting in other key components on entry-level and budget offerings. They’re also inherently susceptible to pixel burn-in and durability issues. Here are the pros and cons of all display types in detail.

What to Do if Your Smartwatch Has a Fake AMOLED?

The bigger question is, what to do if you have received a smartwatch that was claimed to have an AMOLED but you found it to have an LCD instead? Well, here are points to note:

Wrapping Up

It’s alas to see certain brands resorting to false advertising to sell in more numbers. It cheats on the consumer paying for the product and also creates a negative image of the company. But again, it’s important for us to stay aware of what we’re purchasing. I hope the above guide helped you check if your smartwatch has a fake AMOLED display (an LCD marketed as OLED). Stay tuned for more such tips, tricks, and updates. You might be interested in:

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