Samsung’s huge 49-inch OLED gaming monitor is now available

Samsung has released an OLED monstrosity into this world, and you can get one for yourself starting today. Its 49-inch OLED curved gaming monitor, called the Odyssey OLED G9, costs $2,199.99 at retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and from Samsung itself. It debuted back in January at CES 2023.

The Odyssey OLED G9 isn’t the first OLED gaming monitor, but Samsung claims it is the world’s first 49-inch model. That size and its ultrawide aspect ratio help to set it apart in ways you’ll either love or want to avoid. Most monitors have a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio panel, but this one’s essentially a double-wide with its 32:9 aspect ratio (5,120 x 1,440 resolution); it’s like having two QHD monitors merged side to side.

As for why you might want this kind of ultrawide resolution, there are a growing number of PC games that natively support it, either at launch or patched in at a later date. Plus, using Windows works just fine, and being able to orient two full-size screens (or several smaller ones) next to each other might be a big perk in your book.

On the other side of the coin, some popular games (Elden Ring, for example) don’t include ultrawide support. You’ll have to instead view the 16:9 aspect ratio version of it with huge vertical bars flanking the image. If you’re a console gamer, this is all you’ll see, as the PS5 and Xbox Series X do not support aspect ratios wider than 16:9. These might not be deal breakers to you, but you deserve to know the little things when the monitor in question costs this much.

The Odyssey OLED G9 supports up to a 240 Hz refresh rate, and it has multiple routes for video connectivity, including HDMI 2.1, Micro HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort 1.4. It can entertain you even without a console or a PC connected, as Samsung’s Gaming Hub has built-in game streaming services, like Xbox app and Nvidia GeForce Now. All you’ll need then is a controller.