The iPhone 6 Display Is Amazing, But Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 Is Still Better

Steve Kovach/Business InsiderThe iPhone 6

One of the first things you'll notice about the iPhone 6 is its display - not only is it much larger than that of the iPhone 5s (4.7 inches vs. 4 inches), but it's also significantly sharper.

Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate conducted a test to see just how much Apple has improved its smartphone display since the iPhone 5 was released in 2012. According to Soneira's iPhone 6 Display Technology Shootout, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have the best LCD displays of any smartphone on the market.

The iPhone 6 Plus is the second smartphone ever to score all green, which falls in the "very good" to "excellent" ratings, in most test measurement categories since DisplayMate started its testing in 2006.

These categories include display resolution, display sharpness at typical viewing distances, pixels per inch, and color depth, among others.

Business Insider/ Lisa EadiciccoThe Galaxy Note 4

While Soneira noted that the iPhone 6's display is still very good and consumers will be happy with it, he did say that text and re-scaled images looked better on the iPhone 6 Plus.

The iPhone 6 features a 1334 x 750 resolution display compared to the iPhone 6 Plus' 1920 x 1080 resolution screen. That's 326 pixels per inch on the iPhone 6's display versus 401 pixels per inch on the iPhone 6 Plus.

Soneira praised the iPhone 6's display after his testing, but it wasn't enough to steal the title of "Best Overall Smartphone Display" from Samsung's Galaxy Note 4.

The Note 4 uses a different type of display than Apple's new iPhones - Samsung's handset features an OLED screen while Apple's uses LCD. The Note 4's 5.7-inch 2560 x 1440 screen is also a bit larger than the iPhone 6 Plus and has a higher resolution.

Soneira says the Galaxy Note 4 matches or breaks records in smartphone display performance in categories such as highest absolute color accuracy, highest screen resolution, and highest peak brightness, among other areas. Although Apple's new smartphones come with the best displays of their kind, Soneira believes the Galaxy Note 4's display is generally better.