Samsung's reason for using PenTile on SGS III is longer lifespan

The design of Samsung’s latest flagship phone is not the only disappointment among the tech community. Mobileburn reports that people were quite unhappy about the fact that Samsung have used the much older PenTile technology in their AMOLED screen, rather than the newer Super AMOLED Plus, which resides in the S II. The newer version of the screen features the standard RGB pixel layout which provides more accurate colours. At CTIA 2012, Samsung’s spokesperson finally came clean and said that the only reason they went with the PenTile was that it lasts longer and is more durable. They further went on to explain that AMOLEDs tend to deteriorate a lot faster than standard LCD panels and it’s actually the blue pixel that dies out the fastest, compared to the red and green. Apparently, this was the only reason they went with PenTile and it wasn’t related to the supply of the newer Super AMOLED Plus.

RGB AMOLED is not ready yet

What Samsung are inadvertently saying now is that if you buy the Galaxy S II or the Galaxy Tab 7.7, don’t expect the screen to deliver the same performance a year or two down the line as it did when you first bought it. If you think about it, there might be some truth to the matter since, other than the S II and the Tab 7.7, Samsung haven’t really used this screen in any other product of theirs. Since the resolution on the SGS III is really high, chances are you won’t notice any difference between the S III and the S II in the real world, so I guess it’s not that big a problem, after all. This also tells us that all their upcoming phones that use AMOLED will be off the PenTile variety, until they find a permanent solution for the RGB AMOLED screens. LCD 2 like the one on the HTC One X is also another option Samsung may consider for their upcoming phones.