What to know
- Super Actua is the name of the display panel that’s used in the new Pixel 8 Pro that Google says can show natural “true-to-life” colors even when viewing Ultra HDR content under direct sunlight.
- The Super Actua display is essentially an LTPO display that can switch anywhere between 1Hz and 120Hz and offers up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness.
- In contrast, Super AMOLED displays cannot be switch to lower refresh rates like the Super Actua display (they do offer high refresh rates of up to 120Hz). Additionally, highest peak brightness recorded for a Super AMOLED display is 1750 nits.
- Read further to learn more about how Super Actua differs from a Super AMOLED display.
What is Super Actua Display?
Super Actua is the name of the display panel that Google has implemented on its latest Pixel 8 Pro smartphone. The Pixel 8 Pro comes with a new LTPO display and has variable refresh rates that can switch anywhere between 1Hz and 120Hz.
Super Actua is essentially the marketing terminology that Google uses to brag about the peak brightness of the phone’s display. Google says the Super Actua display can continue to show natural colors even when you view it under direct sunlight.
In real-world numbers, the Super Actua display on the Pixel 8 Pro will offer you up to 1,600 nits of brightness when viewing HDR content and up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness. In contrast, the iPhone 15 Pro only offers up to 2,000 bits of peak brightness, so the Super Actua display on the Pixel 8 Pro should be quite bright on usage under the sun.
What is a Super AMOLED Display?
Unlike Super Actua, the Super AMOLED Display on smartphones doesn’t refer to the intensity of brightness of a screen. Super AMOLED is, instead a display technology that is identical to AMOLED displays with one significant advantage. They equip the touch sensor (otherwise called the digitizer) within the display, making phones thinner than the ones that come with regular AMOLED panels.
Super AMOLED displays are designed to consume relatively lower power than other displays and generate less heat than their AMOLED alternatives. In fact, they were the first of its kind to reduce light selections because the display isn’t made of additional layers (like a separate touch sensor). In some ways, you can consider these displays to be the first generation of displays that were made for outdoor use and the technology has since then been upgraded to offer higher peak brightness as is the case with Google’s Super Actua display.
Super Actua Display vs. Super AMOLED Display
Google’s Super Actua display, in many ways, is definitively an upgrade over the existing Super AMOLED displays that we’ve seen on smartphones for years. To give you an overall idea as to how both these display technologies differ, you can check out the table below.
| Super Actua Display | Super AMOLED Display |
| Super Actua is Google’s version of an LTPO display. These displays have been a part of phones from Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus. | Super AMOLED is actually a display technology that’s been widely used by more than one phone manufacturer – Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi, Realme, etc. |
| The first LTPO display was introduced in 2014 with the release of the Apple Watch Series 4. | The first Super AMOLED displays were first seen in Samsung phones in the early 2010s. |
| Super Actua display offers variable refresh rates ranging between 1Hz and 120Hz. | Super AMOLED displays can achieve higher refresh rates like 90Hz and 120Hz but can’t be switched to lower refresh rates like an LTPO display. |
| By offering low refresh rates, phones with Super Actua (LTPO) display consume less battery, providing longer battery life. | Super AMOLED displays’ lowest refresh rate is set to 60Hz at all times, so they may consume more resources, thus resulting in a lower battery life. |
| Super Actua display can achieve brightness levels of up to 1,600 nits of brightness for HDR content and up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness. | The highest peak brightness recorded for a Super AMOLED display is 1750 nits which can be found on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra that was released in February 2023. |
| Super Actua currently offers a contract ratio of 1000000:1. | Regular Super AMOLED can provide a 100,000:1 contrast ratio while Dynamic AMOLED 2X (Samsung’s upgraded version) can achieve a 2000000:1 contrast ratio. |
That’s all you need to know about how the Super Actua Display differs from Super AMOLED displays.
