Why Does an OLED Monitor Cost So Much More than OLED TVs?

Although it is true that OLED technology in display panels is relatively new and there are not too many models with it implemented yet, when buying a monitor for PC you will surely realize that those with OLED technology are comparatively much more expensive than TVs with such technology. How is this possible if monitors are generally smaller than TVs?

There are many users who have read about OLED technology and have gone to the store ready to buy a new OLED monitor, only to find that it would be cheaper for them to buy a television instead of a monitor, and with the addition of they could buy it with a larger screen size. Does it cost more to make a 32-inch monitor than a 48-inch TV?

OLED Monitor

Why is it so expensive to buy an OLED monitor?

To find out why a monitor is more expensive than a TV, we don’t even have to look at OLED technology; one of the reasons monitors are more expensive is because their niche is much smaller. In other words, the volume of televisions sold globally is much larger than the volume of PC monitors; This means that they are mass-manufactured at higher volumes, which allows them to purchase raw materials at lower cost and sell by volume cheaper, something that ultimately translates into the price that users pay for products. Law of supply and demand, they say.

monitores gaming OLED merecen la pena

Comparatively speaking, the same happens with other types of screens, such as smartphones. Smartphones with OLED screens have been the order of the day for a long time, and this means that their volume and demand is much higher than that of PC monitors, thus reducing costs as their use becomes more and more widespread.

With more and more advanced display technology and with PC gaming becoming more and more prevalent , another focal point of technologies is offering increasingly faster and faster panels, with higher refresh rates , G-Sync and FreeSync technologies. , and shorter response times , plus HDR , multiple video inputs, and more. Implementing all these technologies in a monitor ends up adding granite to granite and the cost is increased compared to televisions, which although it is true that HDR is gaining importance, it is not so with the rest of the characteristics. At the end of the day, whoever buys a TV checks if it is Full HD or 4K, if it has HDR, its inches and if it comes with a native Netflix App, little else.

All these things further reduce the market niche to which an OLED monitor is oriented, and as we have explained this makes its price more expensive. At the end of the day, who wants a basic monitor and “that looks good” will buy an IPS, a gamer will go for a VA or TN to find maximum speed, and only the most gourmets and moviegoers will look for an OLED monitor.

The problem of burn-in in OLED monitors

We cannot fail to highlight another obvious fact regarding OLED technology, burn-in. Screen “burn-in” occurs when an image remains static for a long time on the screen, causing those static pixels to wear unevenly to the rest and leaving a “burn-in” effect on the screen. It is a problem inherent in this technology and that happens sooner or later if you are not careful.

burn-in en un panel OLED

It is difficult for this to happen on an OLED TV, since on television the images are very dynamic and unless you have the screen on 24 × 7 on the news channel (as in the image above, where you can clearly see the logo chain) you will not have this problem. However, on a PC monitor you always have the video game hud or simply the start bar in the same place, making burn-in appear much earlier.

This makes manufacturers a bit more reluctant to create monitors with OLED technology, since at the end of the day they can cause problems, have to manage guarantees and, above all, a bad reputation as already happened to LG in this regard.