In recent years, OLED monitors have become an increasingly popular option for gamers who want high refresh rates without compromising picture quality. However, as OLED monitors become more mainstream, the issue of burn-in has once again affected many users. Now, according to a recent report from The Verge, LG has officially confirmed a two-year warranty for burn-in on its monitors in the United States.
This clarification came after The Verge reviewed LG’s flagship 27-inch OLED gaming monitors and highlighted that the warranty did not extend to “burned-in images resulting from improper usage.” After a series of inquiries, Christopher De Maria, LG’s head of consumer PR in the US, provided a definitive response, stating, “LG now offers a two-year burn-in warranty for its OLED gaming displays.” Additionally, the company also highlighted that the updated warranty applies to both current owners of the LG 27GR95QE-B monitor and future buyers.
Some major caveats
While this new burn-in warranty offers a much-needed assurance for OLED monitor buyers, the coverage is contingent upon the monitor experiencing “normal and proper use,” explicitly excluding damage caused by “misuse [or] abuse.” This means that the warranty will cover burn-in as long as an individual uses the monitor for its intended purpose, specifically as a personal PC monitor in a residential setting, excluding commercial applications like retail signage displays. LG does not cover commercial applications due to the prolonged display of static images, which can lead to burn-in.
“Normal use means the product is used for what it was created to do. In this case, that is gaming (professional and casual) as well as desktop computing such as Windows,” said De Maria, LG’s head of consumer PR for North America.
Still better than other manufacturers
Although LG’s warranty coverage comes with conditions, it surpasses that of Acer and Asus, which do not explicitly include burn-in in their formal warranty coverage and address such cases on an individual basis. However, as the industry trends towards more widespread use of OLED monitors, manufacturers will need to enhance their warranty policies to encompass burn-in damage.