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Impressed by the rich colors, deep blacks and high brightness of the best monitors and best OLED TVs? Well, prepare for the next stage, as Samsung Display has unveiled its latest QD-OLED Penta Tandem tech for TVs and monitors.
Dubbed "a new premium technology" for QD-OLED panels, Penta Tandem aims to deliver sharper picture quality, better efficiency and even higher peak brightness in new-gen TVs and monitors — and it's thanks to adding an extra emitter layer.
What is QD-OLED Penta Tandem?
Fortunately, it's a lot simpler than it may sound. Samsung introduced QD-OLED displays a few years ago, which essentially combines quantum dots (QD) and OLED panels. So, you're getting the deep blacks and pixel-perfect contrast of OLED with the enhanced brightness and expanded color range of QD technology.
Previously, Samsung Display used a four-layer blue-emitting layer as a light source for these quantum dots to show color. But now, as the name suggests, Penta Tandem moves to a five-layer blue light-emitting structure with the latest organic materials.
As Samsung explains it, think of it like a group of people carrying a couch. Four people can handle it, but having an extra person help out means it lightens the load, allowing for greater efficiency and packing on even more weight.
Penta Tandem represents the ultimate choice for customers looking to demonstrate the premium value of QD-OLED
Brad Jung, Head of Large Display Marketing Team at Samsung Display
What this all results in is being able to achieve improved peak brightness on higher pixel density displays, or the same brightness as what we see on monitors and TVs today, but with lower power consumption. In fact, with this new tech, it's expected to double the life span of displays.
“Multi-layer organic light-emitting structure is not simply about adding more layers," says Brad Jung, Head of Large Display Marketing Team at Samsung Display. "It requires deep expertise in selecting materials and optimizing their thickness and combinations."
Jung continues: “Penta Tandem, built on nearly five years of QD-OLED mass production experience since 2021, represents the ultimate choice for customers looking to demonstrate the premium value of QD-OLED.”
The next step in QD-OLED
As it turns out, Samsung Display has already put this tech into action, as Penta Tandem can be found in the company's gaming monitors and OLED TVs from 2025. However, the display tech has now been trademarked, so expect to see Penta Tandem in a whole range of displays going forward.
Samsung noted its 27-inch UHD (3840 x 2160) QD-OLED monitor panel, which may be its 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, comes with Penta Tandem, allowing it to reach 160 pixels per inch (PPI) while still keeping peak brightness. In fact, as Samsung claims, it's one of the only monitors of this size that can offer this.
So, not only can we expect peak brightness of 4,500 nits for TVs and 1,300 nits for monitors as standard with panels using Penta Tandem, but also a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification being the norm. That means even deeper blacks, and a huge benefit in visuals in everything we watch or play.
As for what's to come, Samsung Display hints that we'll see Penta Tandem in a certain 49-inch dual QHD (5120 x 1440) monitor, which sounds a lot like the mega-sized Samsung Odyssey OLED G9. That's already one of the best gaming monitors you can get, so adding even more to this display is something to look forward to.
Monitors and TVs are only getting better, with LG Display unveiling the world's first OLED monitor with a 720Hz refresh rate, the more affordable OLED SE for TVs and Samsung delivering a wicked-fast 1,040Hz gaming monitor. Now, with its QD-OLED Penta Tandem coming to even more panels, 2026 is looking to be quite a year for displays.
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