OLED monitors: introduction and industry news
OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology offers bright, efficient and fast displays, outperforming LCD display. OLEDs deliver the best picture quality ever and are used in many devices, from smartwatches through smartphones and tablets to TVs and more. OLEDs are also used to enable high-end monitors that offer excellent contrast, image quality, colors and new form factors. This article will explain the benefits, the current status and the future of OLED monitors.
OLED monitors vs LCD monitors
- OLED provide a better image quality with a much higher contrast (true blacks), wide color gamut, better viewing angles and a much faster refresh rate (great for gaming!)
- OLED panels are much thinner and lighter compared to LCD panels
- OLED monitors consume less power - as only lit pixels draw energy on OLED displays
- An OLED monitor can be flexible, bendable, rollable - and transparent
Of course OLED technology is not perfect. One of the major drawbacks of an OLED display is image retention / burn-in. In an OLED display each pixel is driven independently and each pixel ages differently - and as brightness is reduced with use (the lifetime of OLED materials is limited), we have burn-in problems.
For mobile phones and TVs this is less of a problem - but in a computer user interface many UI elements are quite fixed (toolbars, icons, etc.) which means that burn-in is a real problem. There are some technologies to handle this problem - for example by measurement and compensation, or by adopting a tandem architecture to increase the lifetime. In addition user-interface designers can design a user interface that will be more suited for OLED displays. As there are already millions of OLED monitors on the market, it seems that this problem has been mostly solved.
OLED monitors on the market
OLED technology is very popular in smartphones, wearables and TVs - and in recent years OLED monitors has entered the market as display makers now target this market, starting with high-end models aimed towards gaming and content creation. OLED producers, led by LG Display (WOLED) and Samsung Display (QD-OLED) are offering several high-end OLED panels for monitor makers, and today many leading monitor producers have already adopted OLED displays in their high-end models - including LG Electronics, Samsung, Viewsonic, Asus, Dell, Acer and more.
Click here for our list of OLED monitors. Subscribe to OLED-Info Pro to access our complete list of OLED monitors, with full information on the display types, producers, features and more.
Further reading
- Introduction to OLEDs
- OLED Technology explained
- OLED vs LED
- A list of available OLED monitors
- OLED-Info Pro: subscribe to access our premium content, OLED technology guide, analysis and insights, data resources
LGD: study finds that high refresh rate monitors increase gaming performance, plans to strenghten its high-refresh-rate Gaming OLED lineup
Omdia: the OLED monitor market grew 74% in 2025, and will continue to grow 30% in 2026
Samsung developed a 31.5-inch 4K 360Hz QD-OLED monitor panels
Samsung Display announced that it has successfully developed the first QD-OLED for monitors to combine 4K resolution with a 360Hz refresh rate.
Samsung says that with the rise of games featuring photorealistic graphics and ultra-high-definition video content, consumer demand has continued to grow for monitors that can deliver both high resolution and fast screen transitions - and SDC is focused on developing a top-tier QD-OLED for monitors.
LG Display starts producing 240Hz RGB Stripe OLED monitor panels
Will BOE convert its B18 8.5-Gen LCD fab in Nanjing to WOLED production?
Reports from Korea claim that BOE is looking to upgrade its pilot WOLED (WRGB) production capabilities. According to the company's plan, it will convert some of its B18 8.5-Gen LCD fab in Nanjing to WOLED production.
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD (QD-OLED)
BOE currently produces WOLED displays at a limit pilot scale at its pilot line in Hefei. The new plans calls to upgrade a large portion of the B18 fab to WOLED production which will give BOE a monthly capacity of around 16,000 - 18,000 8.5-Gen substrates. This will enable BOE to finally begin mass scale large-area WOLED panel production, targeting monitors and perhaps TVs as well.
BOE to supply 24.5" WOLED monitor panels to ASUS from its pilot 8.5-Gen line
Samsung Display's QD-OLED panels received wide-viewing angle performance verification from UL Solutions
Samsung Display announced that its QD-OLED panels have received verification from UL Solutions for their viewing angle performance under the QuantumView standard.
QuantumView is a verification program that evaluates changes in luminance and color coordinates as the viewing angle shifts from the front in 10-degree increments up to 60 degrees. According to UL's assessment results, Samsung Display’s QD-OLED panels maintained above 60% of front-facing luminance even at a 60-degree angle, while color shift remained below 0.012, indicating minimal change.
Counterpoint: the OLED market to remain flat in 2026, as smartphone panel shipments will decline 3% due to high memory prices
Market research firm Counterpoint says that following the spike in memory prices, it revised down its forecast for the OLED industry in 2026, as it now sees smartphone OLED panel shipments declining 3% in 2026. We have heard this before from Omdia a couple of months ago.
Following a 3% increase in global OLED panel shipments in 2025, Coiunterpoint says that the market will remain flat in 2026, as automotive and IT OLED shipments will increase and offset the decline lin smartphone OLEDs.
Samsung Display announced it has shipped over 5 million QD-OLED monitor panels
Samsung Display announced today that it has shipped over 5 million QD-OLED monitor panels last month, about 4 years after the company commenced the mass production of QD-OLED monitor panels.
SDC further says that from 2021 to 2025, it average an annual growth rate of over 320%. It has passed the 1 million unit market in May 2024, and in less than two years it has shipped over 4 million more units.
LG Electronics reportedly in talks with Samsung Display for the supply of QD-OLED monitor panels
According to reports in Korea, LG Electronics is considering using Samsung's QD-OLED panels in its future monitor lineup, and is in talks with SDC regarding a supply agreement.
It is said that LG is specifically interested in Samsung's 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel. The reports haven't been verified yet.
