Samsung, Intel Develop SmartPower HDR to Improve OLED Laptop Battery Life

Samsung and Intel have partnered to tackle one of the biggest drawbacks of OLED laptops: battery drain. The two companies have jointly developed a new technology called SmartPower HDR, which reduces OLED power consumption by up to 22% in HDR mode. It also lowers the screen’s emission power consumption during HDR video playback by 17%. It’s unclear when this technology will be available commercially.

SmartPower HDR can substantially improve the battery life of your OLED laptop

HDR on laptops has long been a mixed experience. While it offers richer colors, higher contrast, and brighter highlights, it often comes at the cost of much higher power consumption. Traditional HDR modes drive OLED panels at a fixed, high voltage, keeping brightness levels elevated even during simple tasks like web browsing or document editing. Many HDR-capable OLED laptops default to SDR mode due to high battery drain.

SmartPower HDR addresses this issue at the electrical level. OLED power consumption is closely tied to the voltage used to drive the panel. Instead of using a fixed voltage, SmartPower HDR dynamically adjusts the panel’s driving voltage based on what is being displayed on the screen. Low-intensity content runs at a lower voltage, while brighter HDR scenes automatically ramp things up only when needed.

The key advantage of SmartPower HDR is that laptops do not need to avoid HDR mode to preserve battery life. With this tech, HDR can remain enabled without the usual power drain. The system relies on close cooperation between the laptop’s processor and the display panel. It analyzes the peak brightness of each frame in real time and sends the data to the panel’s timing controller, or TCON, which calculates the optimal driving voltage.

Samsung says the goal of SmartPower HDR is not just to make HDR more efficient, but to make it practical for everyday use. Instead of choosing between better visuals and longer battery life, users can have both. Tasks like browsing, writing, or coding no longer incur the same power cost as watching an HDR video.

Samsung and Intel showcased SmartPower HDR as part of their latest OLED laptop technology efforts around CES 2026. However, they have not yet revealed when we will see this tech on consumer devices. It is also unclear whether Samsung’s future Galaxy Book lineup will adopt SmartPower HDR. We shall find out in the coming months.