Gen 4 Samsung QD-OLED 2025 Panels and Improvements

Introduction

In this article we are going to be talking all about Samsung Display’s latest QD-OLED technologies and panels for 2025. This is Samsung Display the panel manufacturer, as opposed to Samsung Electronics the display manufacturer. These panels are used by loads of different monitor and TV manufacturers across the market.

We’ll go over what’s new in terms of technologies, features and specs for 2025 in both the TV and monitor space. We’ll then focus in on the monitor panels in lots more detail, running through all the QD-OLED monitor panels available and planned for the future, and run through the different generations and some common areas of confusion.

Video Walkthrough

If you would rather view this content in video form where we talk through all the updates then that is available in the video linked above.

Nomenclature for 2025 QD-OLED

Let’s start by covering the nomenclature of the new panels. Samsung Display have internally now decided to drop the generation numbers it seems despite using gen 1, 2 and 3 in previous years, instead preferring to label them by year now. So, officially the new panels would be referred to simply as “2025 QD-OLED” for instance. We think that in the monitor space at least, calling them “gen 4” still fits and makes sense, since they do have distinct new technologies and specs, and there’s distinct and new panels from previous years too.

So, because this makes things clearer and it fits in with previous years, we will call them Gen 4 when discussing monitors, even if Samsung Display would rather move away from that naming scheme. You may note some monitor manufacturers also use this naming scheme already.

Gen 4 QD-OLED TV Panel Updates

In the TV panel space, the headline announcement is that the new 2025 panels will be 30% brighter than last year, being able to reach up to a very high 4000 nits peak brightness in HDR for a 3% APL window area. This is made possible by a new advanced panel driving technology and new organic materials Samsung say.

EL 3.0 and a 5 Stack Structure

This includes a new EL or ‘Electroluminescent Layer’ gen 3.0 which helps improve efficiency by more than 30%, resulting in no increase to power consumption over previous panels and no additional heat generation. That allows them to push peak brightness without any additional risk of burn-in. The last time they updated the EL material was 2 years ago, so this is a significant change this year.

They have also introduced a 5-stack OLED structure with 3 blue and 2 green layers, with all layers being deuterium (doo tee ree uhm) now, although we are getting in to the real nitty gritty of panel structure that is probably a bit unnecessary here. We mention this only because some display manufacturers specifically talk about the 5-stack structure in their marketing.

Samsung Display told us that this new EL 3.0 panel structure also has significant durability improvements with around 2x the durability from older generation panels. They even went as far to say that anecdotally based on both their own internal long-term testing, and feedback from external reviewers and the market, they have very high levels of faith in the performance of their panels now and do not consider image retention or burn-in a risk unless you really “abuse the panels”. That’s not something they are marketing of course, but they’ve told various other media outlets the same thing and it goes to show how things have improved in the last few years when it comes to burn-in.

TV Panel Brightness Improvements

Anyway, not only can these new TV panels reach 4000 nits for peak brightness (3% APL window), but they will also deliver up to 2200 nits for 10% APL, 1100 for 25% APL and 440 nits for 100% full screen white, a significant step up from last year’s panel specs.

Remember also that QD-OLED is capable of delivering these high luminance figures using an additive RGB approach, without the need for a white subpixel boost like competing WOLED panels from LG.Display. That means you get full colour saturation and a much higher colour volume even in high peak brightness situations.

TV Panel Sizes for 2025

The QD-OLED TV panels will continue to be available in sizes of 55”, 65” and 77”. Unfortunately there aren’t any smaller sizes planned like 42” which could be considered a decent cross over to the monitor market.

Gen 4 QD-OLED Monitor Panel Updates

On the monitor panel side of things, the new gen 4 2025 panels will also feature their EL gen 3.0 technology and 5 stack OLED structure. Samsung Display are now producing two new 27” sized panels for 2025 in the monitor space.

27″ 4K 240Hz Panel

The first offers a 3840 x 2160 “4K” resolution which is the first time this high resolution has been available from a consumer, high refresh rate 27” sized OLED panel. That offers a high pixel density of 166 PPI, a big step up from the 111 PPI from previous 1440p panels, and higher than the 140 PPI from 32” 4K panels from last year too.

This is made possible through advancements to their Pico Inkjet process for QD-OLED panels, a technology used to accurately deposit the Quantum Dot layer for the panels, which is now capable of even higher pixel densities reliably and referred to as “Pico Inkjet Pro” for 2025 panels.

This 27” 4K panel has a 240Hz refresh rate but there are no changes to panel brightness specs, with 1000 nits peak brightness still listed along with 450 nits for 10% APL and 250 nits for 100% APL. This panel meets the requirements for the VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black tier, like all previous QD-OLED monitors in fact. Despite the increased pixel density of this panel, they have managed to retain the same brightness as last year’s 1440p panels, which is thanks to the new EL 3.0 technology.

We’ve already tested and used two monitors using this new 27” 4K QD-OLED panel, and you can find a full detailed review of the Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM here; as well as our hands-on video for the MSI MPG 272URX which was not quite in it’s final stage to allow full testing at the time, but which we will review in full in the near future.

27″ 1440p 500Hz Panel

The second new gen 4 2025 monitor panel from Samsung Display is another 27” sized panel with a typical 2560 x 1440 resolution like last year’s panel of this size, but now offering a super high 500Hz refresh rate, a big increase from the 360Hz refresh rate offered from their 2024 version. This is the highest refresh rate offered from any OLED panel so far, surpassing the 480Hz offered from LG.Display’s 27” WOLED panel from last year.

This will offer exceptional motion clarity and frame rate support for gamers and it’s currently the fastest OLED panel you can get. It’s made possible thanks to a new driving circuit that allows increased refresh rates.

We quizzed Samsung Display about the possibility of this being used to increase refresh rate on other panels like for instance their 32” 240Hz option, and although there is nothing official or firm at this stage, we were told this was being looked in to thanks to this new driving circuit.

Interestingly the new 500Hz QD-OLED monitors do offer some improvements in brightness compared with previous QD-OLED monitor panels thanks to the new EL 3.0 technology, and the fact the pixel density remains the same as last year’s panel which was based on EL 2.0.

Monitors using this 500Hz panel will be the first to be certified under the VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black tier, offering a moderate but welcome step up in brightness requirements compared with True Black 400 that is used to certify all current OLED monitors. This includes a higher luminance requirement for 10% and 100% APL.

If we look at the specs provided by MSI for their monitor featuring this 500Hz panel, we can see some reasonable increases in luminance offered, although the peak brightness is still 1000 nits. We expect the improvements for 10% and 100% APL to offer improvements in real world HDR brightness though even if the headline peak number remains the same for now.

We asked Samsung Display about when we might start to see further improvements in QD-OLED monitor brightness and we were told the focus over the last year or so has really been on improving pixel density and resolution for monitor panels. These have much higher pixel densities than TV panels, and are also used from a much closer viewing position, so you can’t expect monitor panels to offer the same brightness as TV panels.

Now that the higher pixel densities have been achieved, there are plans to see what can be done to improve brightness, which will be aided by the new EL 3.0 structure, improvements in power consumption and durability. We expect to see more HDR 500 True Black certified QD-OLED panels over time, and further improvements in OLED monitor brightness from there.

We saw one model on show at CES in January using this new 500Hz panel which was the MSI MPG 272QR X50 (pictured above). We’ve not had chance to review or test these new 500Hz screens yet but should do later this year when they are released.

A New 32″ 4K 120Hz Panel Variant (Gen 3)

We also know of one other new QD-OLED panel variation for 2025 and that’s a flat 32” sized panel with the same 3840 x 2160 4K resolution as last year, but now with a lower 120Hz refresh rate option. This spec is already being offered in the forthcoming Dell 32 Plus monitor, announced in early January and expected to be released at the end of March in China, and late May elsewhere.

As far as we can tell this is the same 32” 4K 240Hz panel from Samsung Display’s gen 3 line-up from last year, just under-clocked by Dell to 120Hz for this office-oriented monitor. Perhaps this helps save some cost on other components like the scaler, or perhaps this is to ensure that this new Plus range monitor doesn’t cause conflict with their existing Alienware 32” 4K 240Hz monitor.

This is a monitor aimed primarily at office users, and Samsung Display said that they are confident that its QD-OLED panels are now resistant enough to burn-in to be used for more general-use applications, including media and even office work. We’ll pin a comment below if we get any further updates on this variation.

Coating and Ambient Light Handling Remain the Same

We should note that the new gen 4 QD-OLED panels still have the standard semi-glossy screen coating of previous generations, there’s no change there although Samsung Display told us they were exploring other coating options with their customers (the display manufacturers) for the future.

There’s no change to the panel structure that would impact the black depth handling in brighter rooms either, so no changes in that area at this time but we were told they were certainly aware of the challenges and actively investigating how things could be improved in the future.

27″ 5K Panel Coming in the Future

Also teased at CES for the future was a prototype 27” QD-OLED monitor panel with an even higher 5K resolution. This would offer an even higher pixel density of 220 PPI and is well suited to content creators and designers who need even higher pixel densities. It’s also more suited to Mac users where 5K is better supported than 4K, and would be considered a “Retina” resolution alongside Apple’s Pro Displays. The exact resolution is 5120 x 2880 and Samsung Display told us that this is a 120Hz refresh rate panel at this stage.

QD-OLED Monitor Panel Generations Explained

Let’s take a look then at all the Samsung Display QD-OLED monitor panels produced over the years, breaking them down by generation, specs and technologies. Don’t get hung up on generations too much, especially where some of the technologies aren’t changing between the years. Also note that display manufacturers have their own ways of referring to generations, some using the Samsung Display naming scheme, some referring to their own display generations which makes things a bit confusing.

Gen 1

QD-OLED monitor panels first came out in 2022 with the curved 34” ultrawide 175Hz panel used in a wide range of monitors to date. That was a gen 1 panel and is actually now end of life and no longer in production, but the first venture in to monitor-sized QD-OLED panels.

Gen 2

In 2023 Samsung Display produced a curved 49” super ultrawide panel as part of their second generation which offered a 5120 x 1440 resolution and a choice between 144Hz or 240Hz refresh rates. Note that Samsung Electronics (the display manufacturer) later added their own matte anti-glare coating to this panel for some of their 49″ super ultrawide monitors, but it’s still using the same underlying 49″ Gen 2 panel. There is no later Gen 3 version of this panel.

Second gen panels included a new Hyper-Efficient Electroluminescence material, also referred to as EL 2.0, which made its blue-emitting layer more efficient and clearer and helped increase brightness on TV panels by 30%. In the monitor market it didn’t signal any improvements to brightness compared with gen 1 with 1000 nits peak still being the limit, but improvements to lifespan and durability are made possible because the improved efficiency leads to reduced power consumption and heat production.

In gen 2 panels this was combined with their IntelliSense AI 2.0 feature, which also helps improve panel lifespan and reliability as well as screen uniformity over time by optimizing pixel level load and light output intelligently. This again can help with power consumption, and overall Samsung stated their second gen panels were twice as durable as gen 1 panels.

Also officially part of their second gen panels, but a bit of an oddity in this timeline is an updated 34” ultrawide panel, this time with a 240Hz refresh rate. This is formally part of Samsung Display’s second gen of QD-OLED panels, but was actually produced in 2024 alongside their later gen 3 panels. That makes it a bit confusing, but Samsung Display consider it part of gen 2 and it includes the same HyperEfficient EL and IntelliSense AI 2.0 technologies as the 49” panel which help improve lifespan and durability, and of course it has a higher refresh rate than the older 175Hz panel.

We’ll talk about pixel layouts separately in a moment for all these panels by the way, as that’s not actually tied to generations.

Gen 3

In 2024 Samsung Display released their gen 3 panels, offering two mainstream and very popular size options for the first time. This included a new 31.5, commonly referred to as 32” sized panel with a 3840 x 2160 “4K” resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, that’s been used in loads of monitors to date in the 32” segment. Later in the year they made a 165Hz refresh rate version available as well, adopted in some monitors aimed at lower end systems and at a lower price point.

They also released a 27” sized panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution and a 360Hz refresh rate, the fastest OLED panel available at the time it was announced. Again, later in the year they made a lower 240Hz refresh rate version available for lower cost models.

Both of these new gen 3 panels featured the latest technologies including a new Pico Inkjet printing process which deposits quantum dot ink and allows for 60% more pixels in the same area with a very low error rate, which is the technology behind making higher pixel density panels possible like the 32” 4K panel they launched in 2024.

The other update was their Quantum Enhancer technology which uses an AI powered compensation algorithm that helps improve lifespan and durability, and which is personalised to each individual panel. This helps prolong the lifespan of the OLED panel as well as help reduce the risks of image retention or other image problems over time.

This should help manage and protect screen uniformity too and Samsung Display talk about this doubling the durability of their panels again in 2024. The Quantum Enhancer feature is also linked to the improvements in refresh rate from their 3rd gen panels.

Gen 4

We’ve already talked earlier about the new gen 4 panels and technologies for 2025 with 2 new options being produced. There’s the 27” 4K panel with 240Hz refresh rate and the 27” 1440p panel with a 500Hz refresh rate, now the highest available in the OLED monitor market. A lot of people have asked us whether there will be a gen 4 32” panel update and at this time there is no information about any update in that size I’m afraid. Same thing with ultrawide panels, there are no new options listed at the moment for 2025 unfortunately.

The Future

Then to finish up as we talked about earlier we know that there is a 27” 5K resolution panel planned for the future, and we’re sure there will be others. More details on future QD-OLED generations, technologies and panels when we get any more info of course, but we wouldn’t expect anything until early in 2026 probably at CES.

QD-OLED Monitor Panel Reference Table

You can identify the generation of the panel used in any QD-OLED monitor using this summary. So, for instance all of the 27” 360Hz QD-OLED monitors you will find use a gen 3 panel from Samsung Display. Sometimes the display manufacturers talk about their own monitor generations which confuses matters, but this is the definitive list of the underlying panel generations and their associated technologies and specs you can refer to.

Pixel Layouts

We need to also briefly talk about the pixel layout and shape for all these monitor panels. Confusingly this is not officially linked to the different generations by Samsung Display, but with the exception of one panel, there is a pattern at least. All QD-OLED panels have a triangular layout of red, blue and green sub-pixels, but the shape of those sub-pixels has changed a bit over time which has helped improve text clarity and reduce visible fringing on text.

The first gen 34” panel had diamond shaped sub-pixels and these panels showed the weakest text clarity. The shape was made more square with gen 2 panels which helped a reasonable amount, with the only exception in all this being that odd 34” 240Hz panel, that is officially part of gen 2, but was produced in 2024 alongside their gen 3 panels, but still has the pixel shape of gen 1. Confusing we know, but that’s the only oddity so far.

The panels since Gen 3 have kept the squarer sub-pixel shape, although the size of the green sub-pixel especially has changed a bit. This remains similar in text clarity to the 49” gen 2 panel, but where it is combined with the higher pixel densities of the 4K panels, this really helped improve things further. The higher the pixel density, the better the text clarity has become.

Summary

So, there you go, that’s a full look at Samsung Display’s QD-OLED updates and improvements for 2025, as well as a deep dive in to all the monitor panels, specs and generations over the years. If you’d like to help support the content we produce at TFTCentral you can join our Patreon where you can also get various benefits like early access to new reviews and articles.

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Buy Recommended QD-OLED monitors

Buy our recommended OLED monitors from Amazon, Newegg, BestBuy and others (affiliate links):

• 💵 Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM (27” 4K 240Hz): https://geni.us/wYgs
• 💵 MSI MPG 321URX (32” 4K 240Hz): https://geni.us/WPu2vks
• 💵 MSI MPG 271QRX (27” 1440p 360Hz): https://geni.us/gmGEsR
• 💵 MSI MAG 341CQP (34” 175Hz): https://geni.us/Z6LiI8
• 💵 MSI MPG 341CQPX (34” 240Hz): https://geni.us/S9tTMj
• 💵 MSI MPG 491CQP (49” 144Hz): https://geni.us/y1ku5
• 💵 MSI MPG 491CQPX (49” 240Hz): https://geni.us/4vjvoYf
• 🔷 Our current top OLED gaming monitor recommendations: https://tftcentral.co.uk/guides/the-best-oled-gaming-monitors-to-buy-in-2025

Useful Links

• 🔷Gen 4 2025 QD-OLED Updates (video format): https://youtu.be/EjCQzKwgBow
• 🔷Gen 3 QD-OLED: https://youtu.be/psykfCmqKqw
• 🔷Gen 2 QD-OLED: https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/second-generation-qd-oled-panels-from-samsung-improvements-and-changes-for-2023
• 🔷Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM review (27” 4K QD-OLED): https://tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus-rog-swift-pg27ucdm
• 🔷MSI MPG 272URX hands-on (27” 4K QD-OLED): https://youtu.be/MpAKjZwxKD4
• 🔷500Hz QD-OLED news: https://tftcentral.co.uk/?s=500hz+qd-oled
• 🔷All our QD-OLED reviews: https://tftcentral.co.uk/category/reviews

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