There could be a new fastest OLED monitor arriving next year, as a rumor suggests there’s a panel in the works from Samsung Display that will offer a super-speedy 500Hz refresh rate.
ET News (via TweakTown) picked up on the 500Hz capable OLED monitor which Samsung is apparently in the final stages of developing before release (add seasoning as ever – this is according to industry sources, we’re told).
It’ll be a 27-inch gaming monitor with a 1440p resolution, sporting one of Samsung’s QD-OLED (quantum dot) panels. We don’t have any other specs at the moment, which isn’t surprising as this is leaked info, and it’s still a while before the monitor will be out.
Speaking of the rumored release date, according to the report, we can expect this 27-inch monitor to hit the shelves in the first half of 2025. Given what’s said about the development cycle here, though, it’s very likely to be later in H1 of next year (possibly further on into Q2) rather than earlier.
If you can’t wait until then for a slice of OLED gaming goodness, it’s worth perusing our roundup of Black Friday deals for monitors, as the excellent Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is on sale for one thing – and also the LG UltraGear OLED 32GS95UE-B has a hefty discount applied.
Furthermore, for those who want an ultra-wide monitor, check out this truly tempting offer on the LG Ultragear OLED 34GS95QE (another option is the Samsung Odyssey G95SC Smart OLED, which has a substantial price cut).
Analysis: The refresh rate rat race
Samsung has hit a new high here with 500Hz on an OLED panel, surpassing the recent 480Hz achieved by an LG gaming monitor – also a 27-inch, 1440p resolution, screen that went into mass production a few months ago. Other monitor makers are expected to use this same panel, too, and Asus already has its own 480Hz OLED on shelves (the ROG Swift PG27AQDP) – but Samsung has overtaken both of these products here. (Note that LCD screens have hit higher refresh rates still – 600Hz of late, with Acer’s Nitro monitor – but we’re talking OLED here).
1440p is a great resolution for a 27-inch gaming monitor, although ramping up from 1080p does mean that it’s going to be harder for your PC to hit that 500Hz (and do so consistently). In other words, you’ll need a rig packing a very powerful GPU and CPU to get the 500 frames per second (in 1440p) that 500Hz demands (that’s what Hertz measures – the number of frames that can be shown every second on the screen).
These kind of super-high refresh rate monitors are really designed for competitive gaming, in titles where it’s easier to drive stupidly high frame rates (Counter-Strike 2 for example).
Hopefully, we’ll get a glimpse of this Samsung 27-inch monitor at CES 2025 – though the panel may not be finished in development quite soon enough for that to happen. Fingers crossed.