LG’s newest OLED monitor is ‘5K2K’ of bendy panel goodness

Electronics manufacturers love to tout “world’s first” in their marketing. Take LG’s newest OLED monitor, for example. It isn’t the first display with 5K resolution, nor the first that can bend from flat to curved. (That one goes to the Corsair Xeneon Flex.) But it is the first monitor that’s both 5K2K (what?) and bendable, so bully for LG, I suppose.

The LG UltraGear 45GX990A is a 45-inch OLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and an impressive 5120×2160 resolution. That’s indeed a little wider than your standard 4K screen, stretching out the usual 16:9 ratio into the semi-standard “ultrawide” form factor, with a huge upgrade in both physical size and usable resolution versus the more typical 3440×1440 configuration. Like the previously mentioned Corsair OLED, it can bend between a flat display and a 900R curve at will. If you don’t need this feature, the slightly less fancy 45GX950A model has the same size and resolution in a fixed 800R curve that doesn’t flex.

LG says that both of these monitors use the company’s latest WOLED panels. (I assume LG would like you to pronounce that “whoa-led.”) That means more brightness, “true blacks,” and Dual Mode, which we saw last year in a design that could switch between 4K/240Hz and 1080p/480Hz for the most demanding of gamers. LG didn’t say exactly what speeds these new monitors are working at, though they can quickly switch between various presets. Since the response time is 0.03ms, I assume 240Hz is the minimum once again.

The press release didn’t include detailed specs, though highlights include USB-C connections with 90 watts of Power Delivery and compatibility with both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync. LG’s existing 39-inch OLED monitor will get an upgraded model (christened the 39GX90SA) with the same 21:9 aspect ratio. It also features USB-C and a WebOS onboard app system, making it a lot like LG’s smart TV line. But there’s no mention of a WOLED upgrade for this smaller design.

Prices and release dates were, as with most CES announcements, absent. That said, LG monitors tend to be very expensive at launch and get big discounts quickly, so I’d wait for a Black Friday-type sale later in 2025 if I were trying to hunt one down at less-than-retail price.