MSI and ASUS are offering extra peace of mind to consumers buying their OLED monitors, having revised their warranties on some models to cover panel burnout issues. On Monday, TFTCentral discovered that the warranty period for ASUS OLED displays has been quietly updated to two or three years. Less than 24 hours later, MSI also announced a new three-year burnout warranty for some of its OLED displays.
OLED panels are increasingly common in gaming-focused monitors due to their improved image quality and responsiveness compared to IPS and LCD displays, but burnt pixels remain a concern for many consumers. Static elements such as on-screen maps and player icons can exacerbate this problem, especially during longer gameplay sessions. Many gamers also automatically hide the Windows taskbar to solve the screen burn problem. Since OLED displays typically cost far more than similarly specced alternatives, buying a device without a warranty that doesn't cover burnout can feel like an expensive gamble.
MSI's gaming monitor warranty page has been updated with the required criteria for burn-in damage claims to be a visible brightness difference of more than 3.5% within 50% grayscale coverage. The page also notes that the warranty will be void if MSI's OLEDCare feature, which is a collection of features designed to reduce the risk of panel burnout and is enabled by default on supported monitors, is disabled or tampered with.
Asus has not officially announced the expansion of its OLED panel warranty, nor has it updated its main warranty page to explain what conditions need to be met to make a claim. However, the product specs section of every OLED display we looked at on their global and U.S. websites clearly stated that panel burnout is covered by the two- or three-year warranty, with newer models getting longer warranties.
With these updates, Asus and MSI's OLED warranties are more in line with other PC hardware companies like LG, which introduced its own two-year panel burnout warranty last August. Corsair and Dell's Alienware sub-brand offer three-year burn-in warranties on their OLED displays. While it's a start, most people will be using these products for longer, but it's better than nothing.