Asus and MSI offer a burn-in guarantee on OLEDs - is it any good?

Image retention and burn-in are among the biggest concerns when buying an OLED monitor. Many manufacturers do not cover signs of wear and tear in their warranty, or do not cover them explicitly. Asus and MSI are now improving their warranty provisions, as the portal "TFTCentral" reports. They are thus catching up with Dell Alienware and Corsair, which already have a burn-in warranty.

A lot of gaming monitors with OLED panels are coming onto the market this year. Some of them are very similar, so the warranty could be the decisive difference for many. But how quickly can burn-in damage be expected in everyday life?

3 years on QD-OLED, 2 years on WOLED

Asus has updated the product pages of its upcoming OLED monitors. The manufacturer now explicitly states that the warranty also covers burn-in. The duration varies depending on the model. The WOLED model PG34WCDM is covered for two years, while the PG32UCDM with QD OLED panel is covered for three years. This could be an indication that Asus has more confidence in the longevity of QD-OLED than WOLED.

Less than 24 hours later, MSI follows suit. In a press release, the company lists seven monitors that will come with a three-year burn-in guarantee - all with Samsung's QD OLED panel. These include the eagerly awaited 32-inch monitors with 4K resolution: the MAG 321UPX and the MPG 321URX.

MSI already provides more information on the warranty conditions than Asus. Burn-in is only covered if the preventive measures were always switched on. These are called "OLED Care" at MSI and include, for example, pixel shift and automatic logo recognition. The latest version, MSI OLED Care 2.0, is designed to effectively protect panels from problems.

Other manufacturers already cover burn-in

Dell Alienware has been offering a three-year burn-in warranty for its OLED monitors for some time now - including the AW3225QF, which will be available soon. The same applies to Corsair. For the Xeneon 27QHD240 and Xenon Flex 45WQHD240 models with WOLED panel the manufacturer covers burn-in damage for the first three years. As with MSI, the protection mechanism must remain switched on. Dell does not provide any precise details on this.

In August, LG also stated to "The Verge" that burn-in on its monitors is covered by the two-year warranty - under "normal use". The exact meaning of the vague wording remained unclear when asked.

How great is the danger in everyday life?

Burn-in is a spectre for OLED displays. While ghost images hardly ever occur on televisions, they are more likely to occur on monitors. Static elements such as menu bars or window edges during multitasking are predestined to "burn in". This risk is increased if large parts of the screen have to be lit at maximum brightness. For example, in an office application with a lot of white in the picture. The rule of thumb: the brighter, the more burn-in.

The test portal "Rtings.com" has broadly conducted long-term tests with various displays. In addition to TVs, some OLED monitors have also been included since last year, one with a WOLED panel and two with a QD OLED panel. CNN is permanently running on the devices with a static logo bar - a worst-case scenario. After eight months, minimal burn-in effects can be seen on all three monitors. In everyday use, it will take years before this becomes a problem. At least if the automatic compensation cycles ("pixel refreshers") work properly.

The manufacturers are probably aware of this too. The three-year guarantees should therefore be categorised primarily as clever marketing. Of course, they are better than nothing, but in practice they will only be utilised in exceptional cases. Systematic burn-in damage with activated protection mechanisms is more likely to occur after five or more years. In other words, when the warranty has long since expired.