Samsung’s gigantic, 55-inch Odyssey Ark monitor was one of the more ridiculous products shown off at CES 2022, and now several months later, it’s available to pre-order today, August 15, for $3,499.99.
Just giant —
As a 55-inch, 4K display, the Odyssey Ark is already the size of most people’s living room TV, but the 1000R curvature and the ability to rotate the display from the traditional horizontal orientation to a vertical “Cockpit Mode” mean that it’s all-encompassing whether it’s wrapping its edges around you or towering above you.
The Odyssey Ark ships with a plethora of accessories and equipment to actually use it. There are two solar-powered remotes, one that’s basically a TV remote and the other, the Ark Dial, that allows you to easily adjust the screen size, aspect ratio, or how you arrange your various windows (gaming or otherwise) on the display. The One Connect box that handles all of the connections to the monitor also comes with four HDMI 2.1 ports.
But the size of the display is the real draw.
I mean, just look at some of the images that have been shared during Samsung’s hands-on period with the device:
Gaming skills —
Samsung hasn’t skimped on the gaming features either. The Odyssey Ark has a max 165Hz refresh rate, support for HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos, AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro for handling VRR (variable refresh rate), and Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which comes with native support for game streaming services like Google Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
There’s apparently even RGB lighting on the back of the Ark, which might only be noticeable if your display is up again a wall, given how big the Ark is.
I can’t say any part of the Odyssey Ark is practical, or claim it wouldn’t require serious consideration before I drop over three grand, but Samsung’s going pretty much all out with this display. It would require me to completely reorganize my life to own it — and by no means should I do it — but gosh, the giant thing is irresistible.
The Odyssey Ark is available to pre-order now, and Samsung says if you reserve the monitor you can get $100 off the full retail price of $3,499.99.
