OnePlus Smartphones to Get DC Dimming Support as Experimental Feature, Joining Oppo

OnePlus is planning to include DC dimming support to its software as an experimental feature, the company CEO and founder Pete Lau has revealed. The DC dimming feature is a replacement for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technology used by the current crop of LED display panels to manage the real-time changes to LED output intensity. Although PWM is pretty much ubiquitous in smartphones with LED screens right now, but off late some Chinese manufactures have started toying with the idea of adding DC dimming support as well - including sister company Oppo, which along with Vivo and OnePlus is a part of BBK Electronics.

Joining the nascent list of smartphone makers supporting DC dimming is OnePlus. The company's founder and CEO Pete Lau on Tuesday wrote on Weibo that the company is thinking of adding support for DC dimming in its smartphone as a part of the developer options or OnePlus Laboratory. It will not be switched on by default, but interested users will be able use it if they want.

Lau warned that using DC dimming will impact the overall quality of screen as there are known limitations to DC dimming right now. Because of the sub-par experience with DC dimming, the company has been cautious in bringing it to consumer devices.

For the uninitiated, DC dimming uses DC voltage to control the light output of LED. While DC dimming is quite popular for LED lighting, it is rare to see to manage the brightness of LED screens. Pulse Width Modulation, which is currently used by the smartphone makers, causes the screen to flicker at lower brightness levels. The flickering may not be visible to all but it does put strain on users' eyes.

Lau has not revealed which of the OnePlus smartphones will be first to get DC dimming support, however it is likely that the company's current flagship OnePlus 6T will be get the feature initially.

To recall, Xiaomi's recently introduced Black Shark 2 gaming smartphone packs support for DC dimming. Earlier this month, Oppo had also teased that its upcoming Reno smartphone will be including the DC dimming feature. The Oppo Reno is set to be unveiled on April 10 in China.