What is IPS LCD screen?
Date:2025-11-11
IPS LCD screen is a liquid crystal display technology that greatly improves the viewing angle and color accuracy by changing the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules, and is known as one of the best types of LCD panels in terms of overall experience.
detailed explanation
I. Origin of Name and Working Principle
The full name of IPS is In Plane Switching, which means "planar switching" or "transverse electric field effect" in Chinese.
Working principle (compared and understood with TN):
The liquid crystal molecules of TN screens stand vertically.
The core innovation of IPS screens is that their liquid crystal molecules always rotate horizontally parallel to the glass substrate, swinging in the same plane like sunflowers.
This change in arrangement brings a fundamental advantage: regardless of the angle of view, the modulation behavior of liquid crystal molecules towards light is more consistent, greatly improving the viewing angle and ensuring the true reproduction of colors.
II. Main features (advantages and disadvantages)
Advantages:
1. Excellent viewing angle: This is the most famous advantage of IPS screens. Usually, it can reach 178 °/178 ° (horizontal and vertical), which means that the color and brightness of the image will hardly change from almost any side angle. Very suitable for scenarios where multiple people watch together or the screen needs to be frequently adjusted in angle.
2. Excellent color reproduction and consistency: IPS screens can present richer and more accurate colors, and the color gamut coverage is usually wider. This is crucial for professional jobs such as photography, graphic design, and video editing that have strict color requirements.
3. Higher native contrast and image quality: Compared to TN screens, IPS has purer black, more transparent overall picture, and clearer details.
4. Press Hard Surface: Gently press the IPS screen surface with your fingers, and there will be no noticeable distorted water ripples like TN screens. This makes it more suitable for touch operation and widely used in smartphones and tablets.
Disadvantages:
1. Relatively slow response time: Early IPS screens had slower response times and may experience ghosting while playing games. However, after years of development, the response time of mainstream IPS screens (especially Nano IPS, Fast IPS and other technologies) is now very fast, enough to meet the needs of the vast majority of gamers, but the fastest in the top esports field is still TN screens.
2. Higher cost: The manufacturing process is more complex than TN screens, so the price is usually higher than TN screens of the same size.
3. Relatively low contrast compared to VA screens: Although IPS screens perform better in black than TN screens, they are not as good as VA screens. When displaying a pure black screen, there may be some "light leakage" phenomenon (appearing gray), especially when watching movies in a dark room environment, which may not be as immersive as a VA screen.
4. Slightly higher power consumption: Due to the need for stronger backlighting to penetrate the liquid crystal layer, its power consumption is usually slightly higher than TN screens.
III. Main application scenarios
Professional photography and design field: displays that require extremely high color accuracy.
High end smartphones, tablets, and laptops such as Apple's iPhone, iPad, and MacBook all use IPS or its derivative technology.
Mainstream office and home monitors: require multiple viewers or frequent adjustment of screen angles.
The vast majority of gamers pursue a balance between graphics quality and speed, and now high refresh rate and fast response IPS gaming screens have become the mainstream in the market.
IV. Common derivative technologies
In order to improve the shortcomings of IPS, manufacturers have developed various enhanced IPS technologies, which are essentially IPS, but each has its own focus:
PLS: Samsung's technology is similar in principle and performance to IPS.
AH-IPS: High end IPS with better color and transparency.
Nano IPS: LG's technology that filters excess light by adding nanoparticles to the backlight, resulting in a wide color gamut (such as 98% DCI-P3) and faster response speed, is representative of high-end esports displays.
Fast IPS: Launched by manufacturers such as AU, it is designed specifically for competitive gaming by optimizing LCD materials and increasing driving voltage to achieve ultimate response speed.
V. Quick comparison with TN and VA screens
Feature | IPS screen | TN screen | VA screen |
Perspective | Excellent (178/178) | poor | better |
Color Accuracy | Best | Worst | Moderate |
Contrast | Generally (with light leakage) | Minimum | Highest (pure black) |
Response time | Quick (excellent) | The most unprofitable | Slowest (with black trailing shadows) |
Cost | Higher | Minimum | Moderate |
summary
IPS LCD screens successfully solve the core pain points of narrow viewing angles and color differences in TN technology by driving liquid crystal molecules in the same plane, providing a stable, realistic, and excellent visual experience.
Suggestion for selection:
If you are engaged in professional design, daily office work, audio-visual entertainment, or just want to get a display with good colors that will not change color no matter how you look, IPS screen is currently the most reliable and mainstream choice.
Even for gamers, unless they are professional players pursuing extreme response speed, a high refresh rate IPS esports screen can provide a much better visual experience than a TN screen, which is the perfect balance between experience and performance.
AUO LCD Display：https://www.auo-lcd.com/products/auo-lcd-screen/
