This Galaxy S27 display upgrade will make you want to ditch your S26
I have a love-hate relationship with modern smartphone displays.
On one hand, I love the vivid, colour-accurate OLED screens that make content come alive. It’s like having a mini TV in your pocket.
The problem? A lot of these displays don’t love me back. Almost all the best phones feature PWM (Pulse-width modulation) dimming, which I only identified as the culprit behind my phone-related headaches earlier this year.
But could Samsung finally come to the rescue of me – and millions of people around the world – with the Galaxy S27 series?
A DC upgrade to Marvel at
No, we’re not talking superheroes, but the way in which smartphones dim their screens.
According to leaker @WalleGalaxy on X, the Galaxy S27 Pro and Ultra will both support DC dimming. If true, they’d be the first-ever Samsung Galaxy phones not to rely entirely on PWM, which rapidly turns the pixels on and off to simulate a lower brightness.
Luke Baker
Why is this a game-changer for me? Well, I’m one of the significant minority (at least 10%) thought to be PWM-sensitive, meaning the constant, invisible flickering cannot be ignored by my brain. As a result, the onset of eye strain and headaches is much quicker than on a screen without PWM.
By contrast, DC (direct current) never turns off the pixels, adjusting the current (hence the name) supplied to the display in order to change the brightness instead. For anyone sensitive to PWM dimming, this can make a massive difference.
Exactly how Samsung implements DC dimming remains to be seen. It tends to struggle with colour accuracy at low brightness levels, so rivals such as the Honor Magic 8 Pro, Xiaomi 17 Ultra and OnePlus 15 use a hybrid approach: high-frequency PWM (over 2000Hz) to minimise effects at low brightness, then DC dimming at higher levels.
Chris Hall / Foundry
By contrast, none of the Galaxy S26, iPhone 17/18 or Pixel 10 phones exceeds 480Hz, so they can cause significant issues.
There are still plenty of unknowns about Samsung’s approach, including whether the regular Galaxy S27 will be excluded, but it could be a significant step forward for eye health.
Galaxy S27 Ultra set to stick with Qualcomm
In other Galaxy S27 news, the Ultra looks set to continue its tradition of opting for Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon chipset everywhere.
According to established leaker ‘yeux1122’ on Naver (via Android Headlines), the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 everywhere
Samsung’s current Exynos 2600 is featured on most regional variants of the Galaxy S26 and S26+ (including in the UK and Europe), with only North America, China and Japan featuring the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Luke Baker
Following encouraging performance reports, there were rumours that the upcoming Exynos 2700 could be expanded to include the Ultra. But that now doesn’t appear to be the case.
As someone based in the UK, this is great news. The new 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 looks to be a stellar chip, and it’s likely to get some ‘for Galaxy’ fine-tuning for the Galaxy S27 series. Even with strong performance, I struggle to see how the Exynos 2700 could exceed or even match what Qualcomm is doing.
When you’re paying Ultra prices, you really want the absolute best performance and power efficiency, and Snapdragon is likely to take the crown in both areas.
