Philips begins showing off its new 32:9 49-inch ultra-wide monitor

It looks like Samsung won't be the only company jumping in to the mega-wide 32:9 monitor market as Philips has revealed plans to launch its own. Similar to Samsung's CHG90 monitor, the Philips 492P8 will go a step further over 21:9, with a 32:9 aspect ratio and 3840×1080 resolution with FreeSync 2 support.

Last week, Anandtech got to see the monitor up close and in action. Apparently, Philips will be charging around €899 for its 49-inch monitor, which will hit the market some time next year. In comparison, Samsung's QLED CHG90 retails for around $1500, which works out to around €1250 when directly converted.

The Philips 492P8 runs at 3840×1080, so the experience would be like having two 27-inch 1080p monitors side by side with no bezel in-between. One thing the Philips monitor does lack though is QLED backlighting, which is a big bonus for Samsung's panel. We also don't know if Philips plans to support the same high 144Hz refresh rate and HDR, though the inclusion of FreeSync 2 does seem to suggest that being the case.

We should hear more about Philips' plans for this monitor a little closer to the new year. Right now, a Q2 2018 release date is planned, so perhaps we will see this monitor again at CES in January.

KitGuru Says: I recently made the jump to 21:9 for my gaming rig and so far, I've loved having the additional space at the sides. However, at 49-inches with a 32:9 aspect ratio, I can't help but feel like the lack of vertical resolution will become a hinderance. Still, I won't know for sure until I see one in action. What do you guys think of these new mega-wide displays from Philips and Samsung? Is this the next step forward, or should we be sticking to 21:9? 

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