Samsung unveils 300Hz OLED for 16-inch laptops

In Busan, a 16-inch laptop display is on show at the IMID industry conference, and Samsung Display has placed the figure prominently beside it: up to 300Hz. The OLED panel was shown publicly for the first time and is intended to operate faster than Samsung’s current 240Hz model for gaming laptops.

Samsung is not revealing much more yet. The announcement mentions only a “2.5K” display; this likely means the 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution common in gaming laptops. The panel’s brightness and which laptop manufacturers might use it remain unclear.

There is also no comparison with the previous model in terms of image-quality specifications. The existing 240Hz panel reaches up to 400 candela per square metre and covers the DCI-P3 color gamut in full. It is not yet known whether the new display offers the same features. IPS displays, another widely used panel technology, already reach more than 360Hz in some laptops.

The demonstration therefore initially changes little for buyers in stores: a faster OLED component is visible, but there is neither a finished laptop nor an announced product. Anyone looking to save battery life can already set the refresh rate to lower values on many gaming laptops.

Samsung is also showing that development of fast OLED displays is continuing. A 34-inch monitor with QD-OLED, meaning OLED with quantum dots for improved color reproduction, reaches 360Hz. The company had already presented a 31.5-inch model with 4K resolution and the same refresh rate at Computex. Samsung has not said when the 16-inch panel will appear in laptops.