Samsung today is now launching a new, second-generation version of its Odyssey Ark monitor. The unique form-factor first made waves back in the beginning of 2022 when it was revealed at CES for the first time, and now the company is back to refresh the quirky display with some more recent tech.
The story with Samsung’s new Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen begins and ends with two upgrades from its original monitor. It’s more marginal adjustments that look to elevate the experience by taking full advantage of the curved form-factor, rather than a drastic reimagining of the product as a whole.
The first is a new enhanced Multi-View experience that lets you fully saturate the screen with visuals from up to four different inputs. There’s still the same roster of three HDMI ports and a DisplayPort input, which can be used to break the 55-inch panel into different sections. So if you want to play a game from your PS5 on one section and then monitor a Twitch stream on the second, you’ll be able to feed multiple inputs through the monitor.
It can do more than just showing the different inputs, too. There’s a built-in KVM that lets you actually control multiple systems from the same input. This function only works with multiple PCs, excluding consoles from the fun.
Samsung is also baking in the same smart features that we’ve seen on many of its other recent releases. The Samsung Gaming Hub lives up to more than just video game features, offering a place to download streaming services and cloud gaming platforms. We’ve previously written home about the tech in our hands-on review of the Odyssey OLED G9. It’s the same experience, now just packed into an even more capable piece of hardware.
Otherwise, Samsung is sticking with the same formula. The Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen still stands apart from just about everything else on the market – aside from the original – thanks to its curved 55-inch 4K screen. There’s a mini-LED panel behind the scenes which is driven by a 165Hz refresh rate, as well as a rotating mount that lets you shift the monitor between vertical and horizontal modes.
There’s also the bundled Ark Dial, which lets you control the monitor without having to fumble around the back or underneath the bezel to find the out-of-sight controls.
Samsung’s new Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen is now available for purchase at $2,999.99. You can score it on Amazon as well as over at Best Buy and direct from Samsung, where orders are now shipping.
Of course, if you can live without those upgrades, there’s still the original version. You’re largely still looking at the same overall build, with that unique curved 55-inch panel at the center of the package. Ditching the multi-view connectivity and gaming hub tech means you can save quite a bit instead, dropping the price down to $1,799.99.
Whether bringing the added software features into the mix is worth an extra $1,200 will largely be up to you – but I personally can’t help but see just how good of a value the original is now that it’s down to an all-time low price.
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