Last night Google launched the Pixel 4 to the world signalling an improvement over last year’s device in nearly every way. One thing they have improved was the display, although it wasn’t bad in the Pixel 3 it did come with a few issues.
Display testing website DisplayMate put the Pixel 4 display through their barrage of tests and it came out as a significant improvement over that in the Pixel 3. It had 10% higher peak brightness, a much higher absolute colour accuracy, and an improved display power efficiency — maybe that’s how they can give the smaller Pixel 4 a smaller battery this year.
On stage Google mentioned that their display in the Pixel 4 was graded A+ by DisplayMate but did not go into further details. Looking at the results table from DisplayMate it would be difficult to know where to start with the display but as you can see from the table it scored well in all categories.
The Pixel 4 display did exhibit some colour shift from different viewing angles although the result was still “good”. The colour accuracy was excellent, something that some displays don’t do due to the way they are calibrated by the phone manufacturer.
In the end the Pixel 4 received the highest rating that a smartphone display can get, A+. Although it received the highest rating possible it is not the first phone to get that with Samsung’s flagships and the OnePlus 7 Pro two notable A+ recipients this year.
I am sure that users out there will put them through their own tests and until that occurs it is difficult to tell just how good the display is. There are often differences between difference batches of displays even from the same manufacturer so we will have to wait and see but are we at a point where we are trying too hard to find something wrong with a display?
Hey Scott, hope you’re well mate. I’m not sure an A+ is warranted when it’s sunlight legibility is in question. At only 450 nits it’s well below what Samsung has. Hopefully when it’s sitting in my holder connected to my windscreen I can use it without eye strain.
Hi Geoff, yeah I am unsure what makes a display A- though. Must take a lot. I have heard others wary of the brightness outside although by all accounts it was fine.. We will run it through its paces when we get them in hand