Surface Pro 3 display offers more realistic colours than iPad Air 2, study finds

Surface
Manages to land second place, just missing out to Samsung

When it comes to buying a new tablet the chances are you won't just be looking for sheer grunt power. For some people it's all about the richness of the display colours, and for those people the findings of a new study should make for interesting reading.

Raymond Soneira of Displaymate Technologies has carried out a screen showdown pitting the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Tab S 10.5, iPad Air 2, Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 all against each other.

After an extensive "shootout" over colour accuracy, full colour gamut, facial skin tone, organic colour, blue region and white point, the Galaxy Note 4 came out as the champion.

True to life

DisplayMate said the Galaxy Note 4 is the "Best of the Best" when it comes to accuracy, while the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tied for second place.

The iPad Air 2 actually came in last with the iPhone 6 Plus landing only one position above it. Both scored highly for skin tone and organic colour accuracy, but for full gamut colour the iPad Air 2 and the iPhone 6 Plus actually came in last.

Colour accuracy is only one factor, of course, but it's certainly an important one. You can look through the findings of the test yourself here.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.