Pixel 9 to take a leaf from Apple's book – and beat it to the punch

Better, brighter OLED displays are coming to iPhones this year – but Google's launching them first, and on more models

Google Pixel 9 leaked renders
(Image credit: Onleaks / 91Mobiles)
Carrie Marshall
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Samsung Display is producing brighter, longer-lasting OLED displays for both Google and Apple – but while Google reportedly plans to add them to all Pixels this year, Apple is believed to be keeping the new panels for the iPhone Pro and Pro Max.

It looks like Google has beaten Apple to the punch with new, brighter phone displays in its latest flagship phones: while Apple is reportedly bringing brighter OLEDs to the iPhone 16 Pro in September, Google's getting the same panels and putting them in the Pixel 9 – and that's launching in August. 

A new report in trade site ETNews says that Samsung Display, the panel production business owned by the manufacturing giant, is producing its most advanced OLED displays yet for two manufacturers: Google and Apple. The displays are expected to arrive in the Pixel 9, the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

What's so good about Samsung's new phone panels?

The new displays will use Samsung's M14 material sets. Material sets are the building blocks of the pixels that make up OLED displays, and Samsung numbers each generation consecutively. The M14 is the most recent generation. According to Samsung, the new M14 materials incorporate advanced materials it calls "Efficient EL", which promise to boost the longevity of its OLED displays as well as deliver up to 30% more brightness.

At the moment, the most advanced OLED materials in Samsung displays are in the Samsung Galaxy S24, whose panels are built around M13 materials. The iPhone 15 range has panels based on M12 materials.

It looks like Google and Apple are taking different approaches to their use of the new panels. According to the report the entire Pixel 9 range from the base model to the Pro will be getting M14 panels, but the iPhone 16 will be split: the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will stick with the same M12 panels as the iPhone 15 range, with only the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max getting the upgrade. 

There's another interesting detail in the report: Google is apparently going to use the panel in four Pixel phones. With the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and a rumoured Pixel 9 Pro XL all expected to launch in August, that leaves one more Pixel to get a display upgrade. Could we also see a brighter Pixel Fold 2 next month?

Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).

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