Additive color mixing creates each additional color in a process that adds colors together. It is a well-mixed combination of different wavelengths that creates the incredible diversity of colors seen when viewing a display.
Any four-primary approach to image enhancement that includes a white sub-pixel is not color additive when the white primary is on or in the process of boosting luminance. The so-called white primary in four-primary displays can significantly compromising color fidelity. A few technologies, particularly WOLED, take the four-primary approach.
WOLED uses a white light to increase “luminance” and therein bright colors often look “less” colorful, while in darker regions of the screen, colors can even appear somewhat dull. Conversely, QD-Display is able to show extremely vivid color across the entire luminance range, which results in far superior color volume performance.
Pixel Structure of RGB & WRGB

Seeing is believing
It is impossible to show what the eye interprets as brightness and colorfulness in printed pictures, so we captured the spectral image data of two pictures directly from two TV sets ― a QD-OLED TV and a WOLED TV. Our researchers fed and processed the spectral data in XYZ linear light using CIE’s color appearance model, CIECAM02, described in the CIE159:2004 Technical Report with recent improvements called CAM16 that were developed by researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Lastly, we added color model improvements after further research. This research coalesces in how people perceive the brightness of a picture, and the dependency of that brightness on color in general, as well as the use of narrow pure primaries such as those found in a QD-OLED. The output of this advanced color model is depicted in Illustration below where we show (from top to bottom) a standard RGB image derived from the XYZ data printed for your reference. Here colorfulness is calculated by our model and the subsequent brightness for two images shown on each display.
In the absence of seeing QD-OLED in person, this new color analysis clearly demonstrates why consumers feel that QD-OLED is more “colorful” and “brighter” than any other display. You can read more on how to measure colorfulness here.
