There’s anecdotal evidence that the average price of OLED displays is coming down fast. Earlier this month, the cheapest OLED TV, the LG OLED48A16LA, dropped below £500 in the UK for the first time ever and now you can pick up an OLED portable monitor from Amazon for less than $200.
Chinese display manufacturer InnoCN is selling a 13.3-inch (opens in new tab) K1F OLED full HD external USB monitor for $182.49 (after a $30 discount, valid till midnight, June 20) with a bigger 15.6-inch (opens in new tab) A1F model retailing for $199.49 (use coupon code TRADAROM at checkout, valid till midnight, June 22) . Note that in both cases, delivery is free in the US but you will have to pay shipping and import fees deposit in other territories. Sales taxes may also apply depending where you live.
Both models are non-touch, offer 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, a brightness of 400 nits and a contrast ratio of 100000:1. They also offer a detachable magnetic metal stand, two USB Type-C ports (one for which is for power) and a mini HDMI one for universal coverage. At less than 7mm thick, they’re as svelte as most smartphones on the market although their weight (590g and 730g respectively) put them squarely in the tablet category.
The OLED advantage
InnoCN targets professionals that work from home as well as digital nomads that prefer to have a secondary screen when roaming around. The sizes of these monitors match the mainstream screen sizes of laptops as well.
OLED (organic light emitting diode) has been hailed – for a while – as the replacement for traditional LCD (liquid crystal displays) which itself took over from plasma display. Read this excellent explainer of the technology and its implications including, ahem, its drawbacks. Elsewhere, display giant BOE announced that it will be upping its OLED manufacturing capacity which will bring more competition to the TV and monitor market, especially on large format.
We’ve called in a sample of the A1F and will publish a review as soon as possible.
