Odyssey Ark, 55-inch curved monitor, released by Samsung

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday released the Odyssey Ark, a 55-inch curved gaming monitor and the latest addition to its Odyssey gaming monitor brand lineup.

The Odyssey Ark monitor was first introduced during CES 2022 held in Las Vegas in January and received a CES Innovation Award. According to Samsung Electronics, it is the largest curved gaming monitor in the industry.

The company aims to cater to various needs of both PC and console gamers with a large-sized curved screen.

“As about 65 percent of gamers use both PC and consoles for gaming, we began to design the product with the aim of satisfying the needs of both PC gamers and console gamers,” said Chung Kang-il, vice president of the Samsung Electronics display division during a press conference held in Jung District, central Seoul, Tuesday.

Fitted with microscopic light emitting diodes (LEDs) screen, or “quantum mini-LEDs,” the Odyssey Ark monitor is rotatable by 90 degrees. The quantum mini LEDs are one-40th the size of standard LEDs used in the company’s other products.

The monitor delivers a refresh rate of up to 165 hertz, the highest for a 55-inch gaming monitor, and 4K resolution. Refresh rate, also known as the scan rate, refers to the number of times a display updates with new images each second.

“Another key characteristic of gamers is that they enjoy multi-tasking while gaming,” added Chung, emphasizing that its Multi-View feature, which enables displaying multiple smaller screens on the monitor simultaneously, would also enhance the gaming experience.

The electronics maker will begin selling the Odyssey Ark monitor globally starting in Britain. It comes with a price tag of 3.4 million won ($2,591) in Korea. Orders will be taken from Aug. 24, and the monitor will be available at local stores starting Sept. 7.

“The gaming community craves new experiences, and Odyssey Ark delivers access to a new world of gaming that will raise standards across the entire industry,” said Ha Hye-sung, executive vice president of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]