LG Display is exciting hardcore gamers with the news that it has kicked off mass production of its first 27-inch OLED monitor displays featuring a super-fast 480Hz refresh rate.
The new panels are targeted at the premium segment of the gaming monitor market, specifically for the most serious gamers who believe that the higher refresh rates might be able to give them a slight competitive advantage over their rivals. The company says the new displays will deliver the best, all-round performance for gamers, thanks to the higher refresh rates, improved response times and an increase in overall brightness.
Refresh rates refer to the speed at which the display can read and display the source material from the connected video games console. Because LG Display’s new panel achieves an industry-leading 480Hz refresh rate, that means it has been able to reduce the overall response time to just 0.2 milliseconds.
LG Display’s previous-generation OLED gaming panels had a 240Hz refresh rate, which was already blazing fast. Most gamers considered that they already outperformed the fastest, 360Hz LCD gaming panels on the market, with reduced motion blur thanks to OLED’s superior response times. As such, the 480Hz panels should establish a new benchmark for gaming performance, which is why dedicated gamers are so excited. In addition, they should also deliver superior HDR picture quality compared to the best LCD displays.
The new panels, which were first announced in January at CES 2024, should also outperform Samsung Display’s fastest QD-OLED gaming displays, which currently max out at 360Hz.
Whether or not there will be such a huge demand for the new panels remains to be seen, as the vast majority of gamers probably won’t notice much difference. But for the most competitive gamers – think esports players – the higher refresh rates, improved response times, and smoother and sharper images might be enough to give them a slight edge over rival players using older panels. In an esports industry where thousands of dollars are sometimes at stake, any monitor that can give gamers an advantage, even if it’s only a fraction of a second, is likely to make a difference.
LG Display didn’t mention it in its press release, but it’s known that its most advanced Micro Lens Array technology is integrated with the new panel. That should ensure higher brightness than earlier panels, improving the overall experience. In addition, LG Display has also included Dynamic Frequency & Resolution or DFR technology in the new panels, which make it simple to switch between 480Hz at Full HD, or 240Hz at 4K resolution, with a click of a button. In addition, the display reportedly incorporates LG’s best “bendable OLED” tech, which should enable the manufacture of more flexible panels that previously reached a maximum curvature of 800R.
We should note that the 27-inch OLED panels are not the first to achieve 480Hz. That honor goes to LG Display’s 32-inch gaming panels, which entered mass production in April.
Some of the first products to sport the new panel include Asus’s up and coming PG27AQDP monitor and Acer’s new X27U F3 display, which are expected to go on sale in the coming weeks. LG Electronics has not yet announced its own gaming monitor featuring the new displays, but it surely will do so soon.
