Image: IDG
I’ve been reviewing monitors for almost 20 years, so believe me when I say this: 2025 will be the best year to buy a new monitor, ever.
Today’s most attractive and feature-rich monitors command high prices compared to what was typical a decade ago, which has moved some monitor shoppers up-market. In turn, this has given monitor makers an incentive to pursue new trends in panel technology, video inputs, and image processing, among other features.
Also, the growing proliferation of OLED is a huge boon for monitors, and not just because OLED looks great and delivers smooth motion. While pricing on high-end, cutting-edge monitors is still up, pricing on monitors with OLED panels is edging towards a freefall.
Here are the key trends you should be aware of as far as monitor tech is concerned as we head into 2025 and beyond. Expect to see a lot of displays packing these latest, greatest advancements in the spotlight at CES 2025 next week!
OLED monitors dip below $500
In the run up to the Black Friday sales period, we saw several 27-inch 1440p OLED monitors — like the MSI MAG 271QPX — dip a cent below $500. Innocn, a budget brand, had an even more outrageous deal: a 27-inch 1440p 240Hz OLED monitor for $429.99.
These deals have expired by now, but they’re a strong signal of where OLED pricing is headed. Deep Black Friday discounts in 2024 prove that OLED monitors are now being produced in high enough volumes that monitor makers have excess stock to clear out, even if that means dropping prices to hundreds below MSRP.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
For now, those prices are still sale prices. But unless we experience some kind of global supply shock (which, unfortunately, can happen), the volume of OLED panels is only going to increase from here — and higher volume means more supply and lower prices.
This trend goes far beyond the computer monitor market. Display market analysts predict that we’re only at the start of OLED’s rise to mainstream dominance. OLED is already popular in premium consumer electronics but, if current trends continue, we’ll see it replace LCD in all but the least expensive budget displays.
That’s not to say all OLED monitors will be cheap. On the contrary, I expect high-end pricing to surge just as “entry-level” OLEDs drop. While 27-inch 1440p and 32-inch 4K OLED monitors are common, many other display sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios remain untapped. In 2025, expect monitor makers to cater to big spenders with new OLED options that push boundaries on resolution, sizing, and features.
IPS Black goes mainstream
LG introduced a new In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel technology called IPS Black in late 2021, then shipped the new tech in monitors starting in 2022. While it didn’t receive much public attention, it’s a big deal.
IPS Black roughly doubles the contrast ratio of a typical IPS panel, from 1000:1 to 2000:1. Though that’s still way short of OLED, it’s a significant upgrade that helps IPS panels deliver deeper, more immersive images. It’s especially ideal for office and productivity monitors, which are a huge chunk of the monitor market (even if less glamorous).
Despite that, IPS Black monitors have been hard to come by since LG was the only company producing this type of panel.
But that’s changed now. BenQ’s RD320U, a truly excellent monitor for productivity and programming, has a 32-inch 4K IPS panel with a contrast ratio tested at nearly 1910:1 — but that one isn’t an LG IPS Black panel. It’s actually produced by another manufacturer. (BenQ wouldn’t say who.)
That’s a positive signal for the future of IPS and I’ll be keeping an eye out for improved panels at CES 2025. I expect we’ll see more announced.
Odd display sizes proliferate
Back in 2022, LG made a weird monitor announcement at CES: the LG DualUp, a 28-inch monitor with a 16:18 aspect ratio. I worried it would be a gimmick, but my opinion changed when I reviewed it. As it turns out, the unique aspect ratio proved useful for many different needs.
The same LG DualUp is still on the market today and its pricing has remained stable at its typical MSRP of $699.99 and sale price just south of $600. That’s a hint that this monitor is seeing good demand.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Other monitor makers seem to have noticed. In 2024, BenQ moved in with the SW242Q (an entry-level photography monitor with a 16:10 aspect ratio) and the RD280U (a programming monitor with a 3:2 aspect ratio). Dell and Asus also debuted 24-inchers with 16:10 aspect ratios.
In part, panels with unusual aspect ratios are examples of display manufacturers “using the whole hog.” Often, display panels are produced in large sheets and then cut down to an appropriate size — so these panels with unusual aspect ratios may actually be byproducts of other, larger panels.
It’s an interesting geometric puzzle for display manufacturers. Unusual aspect ratios offer more ways to solve this puzzle. And now that it’s clear people will buy monitors that aren’t 16:9 or ultrawide, I expect more manufacturers will market monitors with odd aspect ratios as productivity and content creation displays.
New year, new ports
Apple’s release of the new Mac Mini and MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 5 makes it clear that this new connection standard is about to have its moment in the limelight. While PCs technically got to it first, early adopters have experienced issues. For most people, Apple’s inclusion of Thunderbolt 5 will be the first they’ve ever heard of it.
To be sure, Thunderbolt 5 monitors won’t be flooding the market. Thunderbolt is already a niche connection for monitors. Still, Thunderbolt 5’s vastly increased bandwidth opens up options for better monitors with built-in hubs. These monitors will be able to support “daisy chain” connections to high-resolution monitors and/or handle multiple fast external drives. I think the PC market will see Thunderbolt 5 first on a new 5K or 6K display from Dell, LG, or BenQ.
In addition to Thunderbolt 5’s arrival, you can expect to see some new adoption of DisplayPort 2.1 (which first arrived in 2024’s Sony Inzone M10S. HDMI 2.1, meanwhile, will become more-or-less the default on all but the cheapest monitors. These standards promise better handling of high resolutions and refresh rates.
It’s not all good, though. Thunderbolt 5, DisplayPort 2.1, and HDMI 2.1 all have complicated, tiered specifications. Cables that conform to these specifications offer varying data rates and feature support, so monitor shoppers will need to look closely at a monitor’s connection specifications before making a purchase.
More AI (but maybe it will be useful?)
The first so-called AI features, like Asus ROG AI Assistant and MSI Gaming Intelligence, appeared in 2024… but those features felt half-baked. As we head into 2025, AI will no doubt play a bigger role — and monitor makers will show off AI features that have had enough time in the oven.
Skeptical? I don’t blame you. But AI could be useful in monitors. For example, televisions have used machine learning for years to upscale images and smooth out motion.
Monitors haven’t offered the same tech for several reasons: the chips that make it possible were costly; the input latency was unacceptable; and the typical use case for a monitor wasn’t a great fit for what machine learning algorithms could accomplish thus far.
But the monitor market of 2025 is a lot different than the one from 2015. Modern monitors are more expensive, and that means there’s room to roll out premium features — like AI image processing.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
In fact, this already happened in 2024, though in a limited way. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 line included an NQ8 AI Gen 3 processor that supports AI image upscaling. However, it only functions when viewing content through Samsung’s TizenOS, like Netflix or cloud gaming services. It doesn’t function with PCs or external consoles.
That, I suspect, is going to change. Premium monitors are under a lot of pressure to justify their $1,000+ price tags, and AI image upscaling or motion clarity features seem like obvious selling points to put on a box. I expect this will be dicey territory because concerns like input lag won’t go away, but AI image processing could be a good fit for less input-sensitive games and streaming content.
Further reading: The best 4K monitors worth premium price
Author: Matthew S. Smith, Contributor, PCWorld
Matthew S. Smith is a freelance technology journalist with 15 years of experience reviewing consumer electronics. In addition to PCWorld, his work can be found on Wired, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, Reviewed, IGN, and Lifewire. Matthew also covers AI and the metaverse for IEEE Spectrum and runs Computer Gaming Yesterday, a YouTube channel devoted to PC gaming history.
