Samsung Display has just announced two new panels for the monitor market that feature lightning-fast refresh rates, with one panel coming in at a maximum of 500Hz. Now, from a monitor standpoint, this is impressive, but Samsung would not be the first to market with a 500Hz monitor. It’s also worth noting that Samsung Display’s announcement today as part of CES 2025 is not just for its own monitors. These are panels being marketed to other monitor brands as well.
“Samsung Display unveiled two new, game-changing QD-OLED panels today at the CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, that are expected to reinforce the company’s plans to dominate the premium, self-luminous monitor market,” Samsung Display said in a press release. This doesn’t mean it won’t use either of these panels in its own monitors, of course. In fact, it’s already announced two monitors with these panels. Other brands like ASUS and MSI have announced some as well.
What makes these stand out also isn’t just the refresh rate, but the combination of the refresh rate and the resolution the panels offer.
Samsung Display announces a 27-inch 500Hz QHD QD-OLED panel
Since this isn’t a complete monitor, there’s nothing really here for consumers to buy. There will be, though, and that’s the exciting part. The first of Samsung’s announcements includes a 27-inch QHD QD-OLED panel with a 500Hz refresh rate. Some might say that at a certain point, there are diminishing returns on refresh rates
And that a refresh rate as high as 500Hz isn’t really all that necessary. But, there is a market for monitors with these kinds of panels. It’s also worth noting that these panels are likely to be marketed only (or mostly) at brands that are making gaming monitors.
Since that’s the only market with consumers who generally care about a refresh rate that fast. In addition to this panel, Samsung Display is also announcing the “world’s first” 27-inch UHD QD-OLED panel with a 240Hz refresh rate. Samsung Display says it plans to start mass production of both of these panels in the first half of this year. That means we could see more brands announce monitors using these panels within the same time frame.
Expect monitors with these panels to be expensive
It’s the same thing every time when new monitors or TVs come out with new panel technology. They always end up with a high price tag at first. That is unlikely to change with monitors using these newly announced panels. Even at their size, they still come with high resolution and extremely fast refresh rates. None of the brands that have announced monitors with these panels so far have announced pricing. However, consumers should expect them to cost quite a bit.
In addition to these new panels, Samsung Display has also announced other offerings. Specifically, slideable displays that it’ll be showcasing at CES 2025.
