CES 2023 brought a swath of new gaming monitors, and they’re starting define the future of how monitors will be different than TVs.
The past few years have seen a convergence between TVs and gaming monitors, and CES 2023 is starting to see the two display types diverge once again. After all, the LG OLED Flex is a TV that looks like a monitor while the Samsung Ark is a monitor that looks a lot like a TV. This year, we’re starting to see the lines between TVs and monitors more clearly.
It’s not as clean-cut. Some monitors look like TVs and vice versa, but it seems the world of gaming monitors is exploring more exotic form factors and connectivity standards, while TVs are driving toward higher refresh rates, better panel technologies, and larger sizes.
The biggest difference I saw at CES this year was in the form factors of monitors. Samsung’s Odyssey lineup is a prime example. Out of the four gaming monitors Samsung announced this year, only one uses a 16:9 aspect ratio. The others either use 21:9 or 32:9, and Samsung isn’t alone. MSI has a 32:9 49-inch OLED monitor, and LG debuted a 45-inch 21:9 monitor, as well.
It was only natural when we started seeing displays like the LG UltraGear 48-inch OLED that customers would start questioning why they should buy a monitor over a TV. CES seems like the opportunity for brands to separate monitors from TVs, and the key way to do that is the form.
