Since OLED screens became commonplace on smartphones, many manufacturers have offered a software feature that takes advantage of the benefits of OLED screen technology – Always-On display. Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has been using OLED screens on all of its devices since the OnePlus 3, but hasn’t offered Always-On display as a feature for its own reasons. However, the feature will be coming to OnePlus smartphones – new and old – in the coming weeks and months, thanks to user feedback from the OnePlus community.
OnePlus has confirmed through a tweet that the OnePlus community has been asking for Always-On display as a feature. The company has a proven track record of taking user and community feedback seriously, and recently rolled out a special ‘Community Ideas’ page for users to submit their own feature ideas.
Always-On display was the top idea according to OnePlus, and the company has thus confirmed that the OS product team is working on bringing this feature to OnePlus phones through future software updates. Interestingly, the feature was present on early units of the OnePlus 6, but was removed later, reportedly due to battery concerns.
For now, OnePlus smartphones have ‘Ambient display’, a feature which shows basic contextual information when the phone is lifted or the screen is tapped. This works well and leaves the screen off when not in use, but does require some action on the part of the user. Always-On display is a better implementation, since this would allow users to glance the same information without actually handling the phone.
The company could have since fixed whatever issues forced it to remove the feature in the first place, perhaps why it’s now on the software roadmap again. All OnePlus smartphones that are still receiving software support could receive the feature through a software update in the coming months. Additionally, the feature could be present out-of-the-box on the new OnePlus 8 series devices, which are due to launch soon.