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Asus and MSI offer a burn-in guarantee on OLEDs - is it any good?

Samuel Buchmann
9.2.2024
Translation: machine translated

Almost simultaneously, two monitor manufacturers have improved their warranties. However, the new warranty on burn-in damage will hardly make a difference in practice.

A lot of gaming monitors with OLED panels are coming onto the market this year. Some of them are very similar, so the warranty could be the decisive difference for many. But how quickly can burn-in damage be expected in everyday life?

3 years on QD-OLED, 2 years on WOLED

Less than 24 hours later, MSI follows suit. In a press release, the company lists seven monitors that will come with a three-year burn-in guarantee - all with Samsung's QD OLED panel. These include the eagerly awaited 32-inch monitors with 4K resolution: the MAG 321UPX and the MPG 321URX.

MSI already provides more information on the warranty conditions than Asus. Burn-in is only covered if the preventive measures were always switched on. These are called "OLED Care" at MSI and include, for example, pixel shift and automatic logo recognition. The latest version, MSI OLED Care 2.0, is designed to effectively protect panels from problems.

Other manufacturers already cover burn-in

In August, LG also stated to "The Verge" that burn-in on its monitors is covered by the two-year warranty - under "normal use". The exact meaning of the vague wording remained unclear when asked.

How great is the danger in everyday life?

Burn-in is a spectre for OLED displays. While ghost images hardly ever occur on televisions, they are more likely to occur on monitors. Static elements such as menu bars or window edges during multitasking are predestined to "burn in". This risk is increased if large parts of the screen have to be lit at maximum brightness. For example, in an office application with a lot of white in the picture. The rule of thumb: the brighter, the more burn-in.

The manufacturers are probably aware of this too. The three-year guarantees should therefore be categorised primarily as clever marketing. Of course, they are better than nothing, but in practice they will only be utilised in exceptional cases. Systematic burn-in damage with activated protection mechanisms is more likely to occur after five or more years. In other words, when the warranty has long since expired.

Header image: Asus

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Samuel Buchmann
Senior Editor
Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.

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