Dr. Raymond Soneira went bananas yet again, this time pulling out all the stops and testing the Apple Watch glass and sapphire displays.
The testing seeks to answer the question as to whether there’s a visual difference between a watch that uses sapphire versus glass? If the two were held up side by side, the one with a glass crystal would be about 20 percent brighter than the one with sapphire (due to fundamental principles of optics that reduce its light transmission), so it appears somewhat darker and duller, particularly because the light has to pass through the crystal twice.
As such, what are the tradeoffs to using a sapphire display, especially when it’s important to minimize screen reflections and sapphire has almost double (191%) the reflectance of glass.
The in-depth testing went all out, using DisplayMate Lab tests and measurements and extensive visual comparisons using test photos, test images, and test patterns that are covered in the advanced sections. Tests also included categories such as screen reflections, brightness and contrast with ambient light, color gamut with ambient light and viewing angle variations.
While no clear “winner” is really chosen between the two displays, the testing is everything you’d expect and more, gauging just about every aspect of the displays.
Check the link below for the full series of reports and let us know what you think in the comments.
Via DisplayMate