- LG Display is now mass producing its world’s first LCD panel
- The unique feature is VRR, which can adjust itself to as low as 1Hz to save power with static content on the screen
- The OLED version of this technology is currently a 20Hz implementation, but a 1Hz spin is coming in 2027
LG Display has announced that mass production of its world-first LCD panel has just started, with the unique twist that it has a variable refresh rate (VRR) that can drop to just 1 Hz – and an OLED version of this formula will follow in 2027.
Tom’s Hardware highlighted LG’s press release, which explains, “To achieve this world first, the company developed its own circuit algorithms and panel design technology, discovered new materials, and applies the oxide with the lowest current leakage under low-refresh rate mode to the thin-film transistor of the display.”
The display intelligently adjusts the refresh rate depending on the content being displayed, running at up to 120Hz or as low as 1Hz as mentioned.
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It’s with static images – like when you’re reading a document or a web page where you don’t need the screen to refresh many times a second – that the technology drops to 1Hz (once a second). The advantage of this is to save power and thus battery life, without affecting the quality of what you see on the screen.
This so-called ‘Oxide 1Hz technology’ is actually already available in the Dell XPS 14 and 16 by 2026, but with volume production now underway, it will probably make its way to more notebooks soon enough.
Note that the OLED version of this technology – again as seen on the Dell XPS 14 and 16 – cannot drop to 1Hz, but rather its lowest limit is 20Hz. However, LG says it has an OLED version that can get down to 1Hz that will go into mass production in 2027.
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LG claims this technology makes a big difference, noting, “The result is dramatically improved battery efficiency, including 48% more use on a single charge compared to existing solutions.”
We won’t take LG’s word for it, as it’s clear enough that the mentioned Dell laptops have excellent battery life. The LCD model of the new XPS 14 offers a lifespan of up to 31 hours (based on Dell’s own tests with streaming Netflix playback), and while it’s not just down to VRR (by any means), it seems the technology certainly helps keep power consumption frugal.
According to Notebookcheck.net, the Dell XPS 16 (LCD version) only draws 1.5W of power when idling on the desktop (with VRR on and nothing happening on the screen, the technology will drop the refresh rate down to the lowest 1Hz level).
LG isn’t the only player in this battery-extending game either, with BOE along with Intel also developing ‘Winning Display 1 Hz tech’, which is the same idea.
The end result is that by next year we should see a lot more of these power-saving displays increasing battery life, including widespread adoption of an OLED variant from LG that can hit 1Hz, as mentioned. And with mobile silicon continuing to make great strides in power efficiency, there should be some seriously long-lasting notebooks on the way.
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