LG Display launches OLED panel with lofty 720Hz refresh rate

Some of the best gaming monitors on the market can already top impressively high refresh rates such as 480Hz, but if that wasn't enough for you, LG's screen manufacturing division has begun mass production of a 24.5-inch, 720Hz OLED panel. It's aimed specifically for esports applications, and ASUS is already using the panel in one of its newest high refresh rate monitors, with other monitor brands expected to follow.

LG Display says this unit is the highest refresh rate gaming OLED panel brought to market, along with one of the lowest response rates in the industry - just 0.02ms, to be precise. The 720Hz refresh rate is delivered at a resolution of 1920×1080, which the display is able to deliver stably through a proprietary LG algorithm. It's not the highest refresh rate outright though, with (non-OLED) IPS panels with 1,000Hz refresh rates already available.

The jump that many gamers took in the past from 60Hz to refresh rates such as 144Hz and higher brought a huge improvement in gameplay smoothness, but ever-rising refresh rates are now hitting diminishing returns, particularly at this level. The average casual gamer will be hard pressed to spot the difference between this 720Hz panel and other high-refresh monitors, such as 480Hz models. Also, that's if you can even find a game and GPU combination capable of hitting 720fps in the first place - achieving that frame rate will be the reserve of less-demanding esports titles, rather than the latest ray-traced AAA games.

With that in mind, LG Display makes it clear that this panel is destined for the ultra-competitive esports segment where every incremental improvement can make or break a match win. The first model to use this new panel is Asus' ROG Swift OLED PG259QWS Ace, which has been selected as the 'official esports monitor' for the PGL Major Singapore Counter Strike 2 tournament taking place later this year. That gives you an idea of the kind of game where this 720Hz panel will perform at its best.

That high refresh rate technology doesn't come cheap though, with the aforementioned Asus model going on sale later this year with a price tag of $1,099 in the US - big money for a 24.5-inch monitor.