Something to look forward to: High refresh rates have long graced OLED-equipped smartphones, and the same will be true for some laptops coming out later this year. Although it won't be a significant jump over the standard 60Hz available on OLED notebooks today, Samsung Display's 90Hz panels for laptops using this screen tech should still result in some added fluidity and response, potentially paving the way for 120Hz screens and beyond.
As we've previously seen, an OLED-equipped laptop brings a lot to the table over traditional LCDs, such as improved viewing angles, colors, higher contrast ratios, and better HDR performance. What it has sorely lacked, however, is a fast refresh rate panel that lately has been pushing a dizzying 360Hz on LCD-equipped laptops.
Samsung Displays has now announced its plans to manufacture the world's first 90Hz OLED panels for laptops this year. With production set to begin in March, the company notes that it will initially churn out large quantities of 14-inch 90Hz OLED panels for laptops and notebooks, though it didn't specify other details like resolution, aspect ratios, or future panel sizes.
Since this display tech also benefits from much faster response times (GtG) over an LCD, Samsung says that its 90Hz OLED panels offer "10X the fastest screen response time on the market today," and have practically the same blur performance as that of a 120Hz LCD.
Like the 16:10 aspect ratio that's rapidly gained traction on laptops at the recent CES, high refresh rate OLEDs could become yet another distinguishing feature for 2021 laptops. They'll likely command a premium price at first, but economies of scale should eventually help with competing against ultra-fast LCDs.