MSI and Asus are giving consumers purchasing their own OLED displays more peace of mind, having now revised their warranty coverage on certain models to cover the dreaded issue of panel burn-in. on monday, TFTCentral I noticed that the warranties offered across Asus OLED displays have been quietly updated to include two or three years of copy coverage. MSI then responded to this less than 24 hours laterannouncing a new three-year warranty for some of its OLED screens.
OLED panels are becoming more popular in gaming-focused displays thanks to the improved image quality and responsiveness they provide over IPS and LCD displays, but burn-in is still a concern for many consumers. Static elements – such as on-screen maps and player icons – can exacerbate the problem, especially during long gaming sessions. Many players also automatically hide the Windows taskbar to overcome burn-in concerns. Since OLED displays typically cost much more than alternatives with similar specifications, warranties that don't cover burn-in can seem like an expensive gamble.
MSI Warranty Page Gaming monitors have been updated to the standards required for a burn-in damage claim, measured as a visible brightness difference of more than 3.5 percent across a 50 percent gray coverage. The same page also states that the warranty will be voided if an MSI is present OLED care function – A set of features designed to reduce the risk of panel burn-in, which are enabled by default on supported displays – Disabled or otherwise tampered with.
Asus has yet to officially announce an extension to its OLED panel warranty, or update its main warranty page to explain the criteria that must be met in order to make a claim. However, the product specifications section of every OLED display we examined on their global and US websites now explicitly states that panel burn-in is covered under a two- or three-year warranty, with newer models seemingly getting longer coverage.
With these updates, Asus and MSI's OLED coverage is more in line with other PC companies like LG, which rolled out its own two-year screen burn-in warranty last August. Corsair and Dell's Alienware sub-brand offer three-year warranties on their OLED displays. Although this is a start, most people will use these products for a much longer time – but it's better than nothing.
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