AOC & Philips Launch A Whole Bunch of Market-Disrupting Displays
AOC and Philips (MMD) flew me out to Cascais, Portugal, to show off their new ranges of monitors – and boy do they have some interesting ones. The presentation was lead by Cesar Reyes, the Lead Product Manager for AOC and MMD – he did a great job making it interesting, so let’s run down what’s new.
AOC 25G4SXU
AOC’s first entry is this, the 25G4SXU, a 1080p 310Hz Fast IPS panel. AOC claims a 1ms grey-to-grey response time, or 0.3ms MPRT time (with backlight strobing), and 400 nits of peak brightness. It also supports AdaptiveSync, and will be G-SYNC Compatible. This – along with the more limited version, the 25G4SRE – are coming in the next month or two, and for an astonishing 229 EUR (199 EUR for the RE).
AOC Q27G4ZR
The Q27G4ZR (and Q27G42ZE with the same main specs) is another disruptive option, this time a 2650×1440 240Hz Fast IPS display with 95% DCI-P3 coverage, up to 260Hz if you overclock it, and an astonishing 259 EUR (or 239 EUR for the G42ZE) price tag. Again this has a claimed 1ms GtG response time, and 0.3ms MPRT time. This will definitely be one to watch out for in the middle of this year!
AOC U27G4R
This might just be my favourite of the day. AOC’s U27G4R is a bit of a magician. This is a 4K 160Hz Fast IPS display – with 400 nits, a 1ms GtG response time, and DisplayPort 2.1 (UHBR 20, AKA 80Gbps) plus HDMI 2.1. Seems normal enough, what’s so special? Well, if you click a button, this becomes a 1080p 320Hz display! By grouping a 2×2 grid of pixels (4 in total), the chip onboard can basically run at double the speed, meaning 4K@160 turns into 1080p@320. Pretty sweet, right? AOC are likely to be undercutting their competitors on price with this one too.
The great thing for this is basically letting you have two monitors in one. 4K@160 is great for basically any game, but for visual-focused games it should be amazing. But if you then want to play some competitive esports games, you can switch it over and get a smoother, and higher framerate experience. That’s pretty cool, and I’m looking forward to having this in to see it for myself and test it thoroughly.
AOC AG246FK6
AOC’s AG246FK6 is another disruptor display, offering a TN 1080p panel at a new record 600Hz refresh rate. With HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4 and a new dual backlight with multiple zones for a new MBR (ULMB, backlight strobing) mode. AOC call this “MBR+”, and means they can control each strip of the backlight independently. I did film a high speed clip of that MBR+ mode active, although the display could only run at 480Hz on the test system at the event, so it wasn’t ideal conditions. Once I can get my hands on one of these I’ll put it through it’s paces properly!
AOC AG276UZD
AOC’s newest OLED, a 3rd gen QD-OLED, is the AG276UZD. It’s a 4K 240Hz 27 inch QD-OLED, and again an astonishing 899 EUR price tag. This has all the bells and whistles, including 65W USB PD, 2 HDMI 2.1 ports and DisplayPort 2.1, 2 5W speakers, and it’ll be available in May of this year. This is another one I’m excited to test out properly!
AOC CU34G4Z
AOC’s newest ultrawides offer Fast VA panels, competitive price tags, and either 240Hz or 180Hz refresh rates. These will be available real soon too, including the new red accents on the back ring and cable passthrough too.
I should mention that Philips, via their EVNIA brand, have their own spin on most of these AOC options. EVNIA have two dual frame rate options, the 27M2N3800A ( the cheaper one ) and the 27M2N5901A ( premium, but added features like Ambiglow, 65W USB C, etc). They also have a new QHD 240Hz option, the 27M2N3500PA, at the same price as a the Q27G4ZR from AOC.
I’m looking forward to getting some of these in, but at least from the specs and a brief play on them, I can say these are going to be very interesting. The 600Hz display looks pretty decent, a quick look at Aperture Grille’s Frog Pursuit test shows on a medium overdrive mode there is very little ghosting (at least at 480Hz). The dual frame rate one seems pretty exciting too, although of course the new 4K 240Hz OLED that is sub 1000 Euros seems really exciting. It looks vibrant and incredibly sharp, AOC has a lot to offer here, and almost exclusively at very, very competitive prices. Great job AOC/MMD!
