Samsung’s curved 49-inch gaming monitor now comes in QHD resolution

CES 2019 is just a few days away, but Samsung is getting an early start with some new monitors, including the CRG9, an upgraded version of Samsung’s massive 49-inch desktop monitor that now offers even higher resolution.

The old CHG90 model offered a mere 3840 x 1080 resolution, which is equivalent to two 16:9, 1920 x 1080 displays mashed together. But with the CRG9, Samsung is bumping that up to QHD, with 32:9 aspect ratio and 5120 x 1440 resolution display, which is essentially two 2560 x 1440 QHD screens mashed together.

While Samsung beat its competitors to the market with the original 49-inch display, it’s not the first to offer QHD in that size class. Both Philips and Dell have announced QHD 49-inch monitors, making this more of an exercise in catch-up rather than a leap ahead for Samsung. But it’s still good to see that Samsung is keeping up with competitors.

Like the original 49-inch monitor, the CRG9 is built for gaming, offering a 120Hz refresh rate 4ms response time, and AMD’s Radeon FreeSync 2 technology. Spec-wise, Samsung is also including HDR10 support, along with an HDMI port, two DisplayPorts, and a USB jack.

Also new from Samsung is the UR59C, a curved 32-inch monitor that offers a 2,500:1 contrast ratio and a full 3840 × 2160 4K resolution, which Samsung says is an industry first. The UR59C seems to be meant more for content creation than gaming, with ultra-thin bezels and a more professional, fabric-covered back than the more industrial look of a gaming monitor.

Samsung has yet to announce a price or release date for either display, but presumably, we’ll get more information at CES next week. Now, if only someone could combine the two for a 49-inch, UHD 4K display that ran at a 32:9 aspect ratio (a hypothetical 7680 x 2160 for those keeping score at home), then we’d really be in business.