Samsung introduces curved QD-OLED gaming monitors
OLED gaming monitors are everywhere at CES 2023, and Samsung’s set is no exception. Samsung is sure you need a bigger gaming monitor – or at least that’s what its CES 2023 lineup has to offer. The company presented Four new monitors for the Odyssey gaming line, from a 34-inch ultrawide monitor to a 57-inch 8K monster.
It’s an interesting move considering that CES also showcased LG’s first 27-inch OLED monitors, which have been the talk of the town for the past few months. But for now, Samsung is showing only two OLED Odyssey monitors: a 34-inch model and a 49-inch model.
Samsung Odyssey OLED G9
Unlike the wave of new 27-inch OLED gaming monitors, Samsung’s first OLED monitors use its own QD-OLED panels, first introduced in last year’s Alienware 34 QD-OLED. QD-OLED is Samsung’s long-awaited answer to LG’s OLED, and so far it’s proven to be a strong contender.
The Samsung Odyssey G95SC 49 is the most interesting of all these new monitors. It takes the Odyssey Neo G9 format and adds an OLED panel. That’s why it is 32:9 super ultrawide monitor with 1800R curve stacking two 1440p monitors side by side (which Samsung calls “Dual QHD”), with a total resolution of 5,120 x 1,440 pixels. The Odyssey Neo comes with the same 240Hz refresh rate as the G9.
The Odyssey OLED 34 is a bit more modest: it’s an ultra-wide 21:9 monitor with a 175Hz refresh rate. According to Samsung, both monitors come with a 0.1ms response time and HDR True Black 400. Alienware 34 QD-OLED, that’s no surprise. Samsung has not specified whether this is official DisplayHDR certification. The company bypassed this certification process with last year’s Odyssey Neo G8.
Apart from the new panel, these new OLED monitors also have an updated design. The leg is wider and the base doesn’t take up as much space as the G8. The branding on the back is also a little less bombastic. The simple design looks cleaner, like the circular RGB ring in the center.
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 8K Monitor
Although Samsung has a new monitor in the 49-inch 32:9 category, the Odyssey Neo G9 isn’t going away anytime soon. This monitor was introduced by AMD last November as one of the first 8K monitors on the market, and it’s even crazier than our first look suggested.
It is obvious that, 8K resolution is a key featureIt was made possible thanks to DisplayPort 2.1, which doubles data transfer rates to provide the bandwidth needed for 8K resolution. Whether your PC can handle that many pixels remains to be seen, especially since AMD’s latest GPUs support the feature.
The Odyssey Neo G9 is a 57-inch 32:9 monitor with a 1000R curve that puts two 4K screens side by side., for a total resolution of 7680 x 2160 pixels. Even with the increased resolution, Samsung maintains a super-high 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. It’s not an OLED display, but the newly updated Odyssey Neo G9 uses mini-LED backlighting, which Samsung says gives it a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Wide aspect ratios are the backbone of Samsung’s new Odyssey range, with the exception of the Odyssey Neo G7. The 2023 model uses the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, but it measures 43 inches. Samsung aims it more as a TV, as it includes a 2.2-channel speaker system and Samsung’s Smart TV operating system.
The Odyssey Neo G9 Display is VESA certified for HDR 1000 and Samsung claims it offers “superior imaging in any gaming environment, from shadows to bright scenes“.
The Odyssey Neo G9 and Odyssey OLED G9 both include adaptive sync and AMD FreeSync Premium. Both come with Samsung Smart Hub and Game Hub. The latter allows direct access to video streaming programs such as Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube without even connecting to a computer. Similarly, Game Hub lets you stream games from Xbox and NVIDIA GeForce Now.
Both monitors also have USB-C charging up to 65 watts.
Samsung says the Odyssey Neo G7 will go on sale in early 2023 The Odyssey Neo G9 will arrive later this year. It’s unclear exactly when we’ll see both OLED monitors, but Samsung says they’ll arrive later in 2023.
