Gigabyte Joins The OLED Gaming Monitor Warranty War With Expanded Burn-In Coverage
Sometimes it only takes a little spark to ignite a fire, which then quickly spreads. Need proof? We're seeing this play out in real time, metaphorically, as major monitor players update their respective warranties for longer coverage and to explicitly guarantee against image retention, otherwise known as burn-in. The latest to do so is Gigabyte.
Gigabyte isn't blazing a trail here, but is making sure it's not left behind in the wake of ASUS and MSI recently updating their own respective terms. ASUS got the OLED warranty party started last month by updating its warranty language to specifically cover buyers against burn-in, which occurs when static images end up permanently seared into an display.
At the time, ASUS was offering 2 years of coverage. Shortly after, however, MSI responded by essentially saying 'Hold my beer' and updated its own terms to also specifically guarantee against burn-in, but for a period of 3 years. Then almost immediately after, ASUS updated its warranty policy to 3 years as well, putting it on even footing with MSI.
All of that happened in a span of just a few days. Now several weeks later, Gigabyte has announced that it is now offering an enhanced 3-year warranty for its QD-OLED monitors as well.
"The extended 3-year warranty aims to provide users with peace of mind and protection against potential panel image retention issues, ensuring a flawless gaming and entertainment experience over a longer period. Gigabyte is dedicated to offering not only state-of-the-art technology but also robust support and service to its customers," Gigabyte stated in a press release.
Gigabyte says its updated warranty terms apply to its entire lineup of QD-OLED monitors, including the CO49DQ, FO32U2P, FO32U2, FO27Q3, MO34WQC, and MO34WQC2. The FO32U2P model is especially interesting as it's the first 4K OLED display with DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity supporting the full bandwidth of the Ultra High Bit Rate 20 (UHBR 20) transmission mode—four 20Gbps lanes for 80Gbps total. That's enough to handle 4K at 240Hz without Display Stream Compression (DSC).
This raises the question, is 3 years long enough? That's a loaded question for sure. On one hand, OLED monitors carry a premium compared to LCD models and it would stink to have burn-in become an a non-covered issue in years 4 or 5. Gigabyte says its expanded warranty "underscores Gigabyte's confidence in the durability and performance of its cutting-edge monitors," but if that's the case, why not back these premium displays for 5 years?
On the other head, burn-in is less of an issue these days than it was when OLED was first gaining a foothold in the market. Today's displays employ various tricks to mitigate burn-in, such as shifting pixels, automatically detecting and dimming static logos, and so forth.
In any event, it's nice to see some of the big players respond to concerns with updated language and longer terms than were previous offered.
