LG plans to introduce 20-inch OLED panels this year

LG plans to introduce a 20-inch OLED panel by the end of the year, and unlike most other offerings of this size, it will be used in consumer devices.

LG is the leading manufacturer of OLED panels for several other categories of devices, and the company makes panels for watches, TVs, and smartphones, but this will be the first time the company has made OLED panels suitable for computer monitors or small TVs.

The news comes from South Korean electronics news site The Elec, which revealed details of a speech before the Korea Display Industry Association by LG Display Vice President Kang Won Suk.

The chief executive also said the company is working on OLED displays for mixed reality devices, a new 77-inch transparent OLED display, and flexible OLED displays where the user can adjust the degree of curvature on the fly.

If the panels have the same qualities that LG makes for TVs, this development could be big news in the computer monitor business.

Based on objective testing by Rtings and other display technology reviewers, LG OLED TVs far outperform most desktop monitors on the market in every aspect of picture quality, from contrast to gray uniformity. And LG’s latest OLED displays have competitive response times and refresh rates, making them good gaming displays too.

Currently, most of the high-end computer monitor market is focused on either color accuracy for creative professionals or ultra-fast response times and refresh rates for dedicated gamers—often at the expense of image quality in the latter case. The image quality and consistency of most computer monitors is quite poor by TV and smartphone display standards.

For example, most computer monitors use LED technology, but expensive LED TVs lack local dimming technology. This means contrast ratios are comparatively low and backlight blur is a common problem. OLED circumvents these issues. Also, PC gamers playing on desktop monitors usually miss out on all the HDR effects (if it’s supported at all), as few PC monitors can display the highlights that LED or OLED TVs can.

Laptops have had a handful of OLED monitors, and last year desktop OLED displays from manufacturers other than LG began to appear. The first signs are encouraging. Starting this year, LG is releasing a 42-inch version of its OLED TV, which is popular with some high-end PC gamers. But that’s still too much to be practical for many people who are looking for a screen to use in this context.

However, compromises can be made to produce panels in these sizes, so we’ll have to wait until (probably) next year to see what we get. And this may be just the beginning. While 20-inch OLED panels are suitable for some users, many prefer larger sizes such as 23, 24 or 27 inches.