Samsung's "Penta Tandem" display tech finally solves OLED brightness woes — Your next PC or TV screen will be brighter AND more efficient

OLED displays are among the best you can buy right now, especially if you value deep color and contrast. But standard OLED panels are only the start of a monitor rabbit hole that Samsung just made deeper by introducing new QD-OLED Penta Tandem branding for its proprietary tech.

Let me back up for a moment. Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) tech involves each pixel producing its own light when fed an electric current. Because there's no backlight required, you can expect perfect contrast and deep color.

Quantum Dot OLED, also known as QD-OLED, was introduced as a way to make standard OLED displays brighter. Without getting too technical, the quantum dots in these types of displays help boost brightness to a point otherwise impossible in standard OLED screens.

Samsung, the company responsible for a significant share of the high-end screens found in laptops, monitors, phones, and more, has added a fifth layer to its proprietary QD-OLED stack, which the company says "delivers superior picture quality, efficiency, and peak brightness."

As Samsung points out in its QD-OLED Penta Tandem press release, the high-resolution monitor market has intensified significantly of late. It believes this fifth layer is the key to balancing higher resolutions with higher brightness levels.

This revelation is based on the fact that as you add pixel density, there's less space for each pixel to emit light. This dilemma is solved by adding OLED layers, and Samsung's advancements aren't minor.

The company says that "compared to last year's four-layer QD-OLED, Penta Tandem improved luminous efficiency by 1.3 times and extends lifespan by 2 times." That essentially means Samsung's TVs with new QD-OLED Penta Tandem tech will hit 4,500 nits brightness, while monitors will hit 1,300 nits.

Displays with the new QD-OLED Penta Tandem tech will also receive VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, proving they can drop black levels to 0.0005 nits brightness while also hitting at least 500 nits peak brightness.

QD-OLED Penta Tandem display tech is coming to all of Samsung's new displays launching this year, but it's worth pointing out that the tech is already available in many products. The ASUS ROG Swift 27" (PG27UCDM) gaming monitor, for example, features Samsung QD-OLED Penta Tandem and was launched last year.

How does QD-OLED Penta Tandem compare to Tandem OLED?

Throwing the term "tandem" into the display tech mix for another go could serve to confuse shoppers. LG's Tandem WOLED (TV) and Tandem OLED (monitor) tech has been around for a while now, and it implies that there are two OLED displays stacked one on top of the other.

This results in a broader color range and superior HDR TrueBlack visuals. And because the two panels can combine their brightness, they don't require as much power (improving efficiency) and aren't as likely to cause burn-in.

Samsung's Penta Tandem is simply a way to denote that it's added a fifth layer to its OLED stack. Yes, this is all about branding, but it's interesting to see how OLED displays are quickly evolving to be brighter and more efficient.

What do you think?

Have you made the change to some form of OLED display tech? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments section!

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