Apple's “Retina display” first appeared on the iPhone 4 on 2010, and all iPhones produced since have featured the “Retina” brand in their marketing. Then, What makes a screen “Super Retina” and “Super Retina XDR” be different?
Super Retinal OLED
Apple has been using Retina to describe its high-pixel-density displays for more than a decade. The term is marketing parlance and means that you cannot distinguish individual pixels at a normal operating distance from the screen.. All screens used on iPhones, Apple iPads and Macs are now “Retina” quality or better.
The term “Super Retina HD” was first used to describe a new type of screen that debuted on the iPhone X. Apple moved away from an LCD panel in favor of OLED and needed a new marketing term to describe it. "Super Retina" is Apple's marketing language for a display that uses OLED technology..
OLED panels differ from LED-illuminated LCDs in that they are self-emitting, which means that they generate their own light thanks to organic compounds inside the screen. This provides superb contrast bonding., where the screen can turn off individual pixels for deep blacks that are not possible on an LCD screen.
Compared, an LCD screen must block the always-on backlight to display black, resulting in raised blacks that appear gray. Since OLED displays do not require backlighting and can turn off pixels entirely, use less battery power than their LCD counterparts.
XDR is extended dynamic range
Apple switched back to LCD screens “Liquid Retina” for the iPhone launch 11, but it also launched the iPhone 11 Pro at the same time with the new marketing “Super Retina XDR”.
Since then, the “Super Retina XDR display” has appeared on the iPhone range 12 and 12 Pro, in mini and max sizes. This screen is Apple's second attempt at an OLED screen, with a contrast binding, improved brightness and compatibility with high dynamic range (HDR).
Apple has used the brand “XDR” elsewhere to refer to the enhanced dynamic range, specifically in $ 4,999 6K Pro Display XDR that complies 1.600 bright nights. Despite this, unlike the OLED panel seen on the iPhone 12, Pro Display XDR uses a dimmable backlit LCD panel.
This second generation OLED panel improves on the original by doubling the contrast linkage (from 1,000,000: 1 a 2,000,000: 1) and entering until 1,200 nits of maximum brightness for HDR content. On some models, like iPhone 12 Pro, Apple reports a typical brightness of 800 nits, versus 625 on older panels.
Liquid Retina displays are LCD
Most iPhone models produced now use Super Retina displays, but older models like the second generation iPhone SE and the iPhone 11 use LCD panels. These have larger bezels, lower contrast linkage and use more power than OLED panels, but they still look fantastic.
Display technology is constantly progressing, especially in the mobile space. You can expect more low temperature polycrystalline oxide screens (LTPO) that may vary their refresh rates and consume even less power on future devices.
