One of the biggest concerns people have with OLED screens is the potential for burn-in. OLED provides a much sharper, prettier picture, but it also has a risk of images burning into the screen as pixels die out if it’s left running for too long. YouTuber Bob Wulff of the Wulff Den decided to put the Nintendo Switch OLED model to the test by leaving it on for a total of 7,000 consecutive hours (around 9 1/2 months). You can see the results of this rigorous testing in the short video he posted above.

While you might have expected disaster from such a test, it turns out that the effects are rather mild! While Wulff’s OLED Switch certainly did receive some minor burn-in, it’s only noticeable in very bright or very dark scenes of games, and even then is pretty faint. Wulff also points out that this result comes after leaving the system on one specific Zelda: Breath of the Wild screen for this entire length of time - something that very few Switch owners are likely to do themselves.

So, long story short, you most likely have nothing to fear in regards to burn-in on your Nintendo Switch OLED! Maybe don’t leave it on for longer than say, 5,000 hours, just to be safe, but it’s not something the average user should ever have to worry about. Good work on those screens, Nintendo!

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Comments (3)

sligeach_eire

1+ y ago

That's pretty good considering, like really good. Nobody in normal circumstances or even extraordinary circumstances are going to experience a similar situation.

I wonder what kind of experiments Nintendo themselves carried out prior to launch and whether they pay attention to stories like this for future reference and products.


socar

1+ y ago

Do the pixels get fixed if the power turns off I wonder...


kuribo

1+ y ago

@socar

Often not. That’s what burn-in is. Pixels “burnt” to a fixed state that no longer change.