Over the past few years we have witnessed the rollout of PC monitors in the extra-wide 21:9 format. Starting this year, LG will produce very wide LCD display in 2.4:1 and Samsung will produce ultra-wide displays in 32:9, according to TFTcentral.

Extremely wide PC monitors
No products have been announced but Samsung and LG.Display (LG's display production arm) have confirmed that they will put the new ultra-wide panels into production later this year. Both companies also sell LCD panels to other manufacturers.

LG.Display's new display panel is a 37.5-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 3840x1600 pixels in 2.4:1 format, which is the same format that most Hollywood movies are mastered and released in. Watching movies on a 16:9 display usually involves seeing black bars on the top and bottom. LG.Display says that the panel will have 14ms (g2g) response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and 178/178 degree viewing angles. Production will start in the third quarter of 2016.

Samsung has similar plans but they will go even larger and wider. Their new LCD panels tick in at 41 and 49 inch sizes in the 32:9 aspect ratio, which corresponds to placing two 16:9 monitors side-by-side. These panels have what Samsung refers to as “FHD+" resolution, which probably means 3840x1080 pixels. Samsung says that its panels are curved. The panels are included in its roadmap for monitor panels – not TV panels – and production will start in the third quarter of 2016.


The illustration above has been produced by FlatpanelsHD and depicts a curved PC monitor in 32:9 format.

In the same roadmap Samsung has listed a 31.5” LCD panel with 8K resolution (7680x4320 pixels). Production will start in the third quarter of 2016.

It is not clear when we can expect to see the first consumer monitors released. However, as manufacturers need time to prepare and commence production it will likely happen by late 2016 at the earliest.

- Source: TFTcentral, panorama photo from Flickr