InnoCN 49Q1R Review – Ultrawide Curved 49” QD-OLED Gaming Monitor for Just $1000

Some people deck their desks with dual—or even triple—monitors, always chasing that sweet screen real estate. And sure, that’s one way to do it. But it’s messy, disconnected, and frankly, rubbish for gaming. The InnoCN 49Q1R sidesteps all that by squishing two 27” widescreen displays into one mega, ultra-widescreen monster: 49 inches of glorious, continuous screen.

Now, I’m old enough to remember when 21 inches and 30 Hz on a cathode ray tube were considered the height of luxury. So the fact that we now have a 49” curved QD-OLED panel, running at 144Hz and 5120×1440 resolution—for around $1000 or less during sales on Amazon—is absolutely mind-blowing.

Let’s dive into how it performs and what living with a massive ultra-curved display is really like. 

Dimensions and Build

No two ways about it: this thing is a beast. It’s 1.2 metres wide and needs about 37cm of depth on your desk. It weighs 15.6kg—not as heavy as I feared, but still enough that you should take care when unboxing. I left the screen portion inside its curved protective shell until I’d placed it exactly where I wanted it.

Tech Specs and Panel Details

The InnoCN 49Q1R is marketed as a 5K2K display, which means 5120×1440 resolution—also known as DQHD or “dual quad HD.” It has a 32:9 aspect ratio (twice as wide as a 16:9 widescreen) and an 1800R curvature. That number refers to the curve radius (1800mm or 1.8m), and it’s one of the more dramatic curves you’ll find—most monitors hover around 2000R to 2400R.

Now, I don’t have much experience with ultra-curved displays, but I’ve really come to love this one. It’s mostly a comfort thing. I found reduced glare, and more of the screen is angled naturally toward your eyes. 

At this size and resolution, you’re getting about 110 pixels per inch. That’s plenty sharp. For reference, Apple’s “Retina” displays push over 200 PPI, but they’re also a lot smaller and more demanding on the GPU. At 110 PPI, it strikes a nice balance—sharp enough that I can only spot individual pixels if I lean in absurdly close. From a normal distance, it’s crisp.

It supports up to 144Hz, which is perfectly fine for most gamers. Hardcore esports types might want more, but 144Hz is a sweet spot. It also boasts a 0.03ms response time and has adaptive sync support, so it’s clearly geared for gaming.

Traditional OLED displays feature a distinct R, G, and B emitter for each pixel. The 49Q1R is a QD-OLED panel, which means each pixel uses a single blue OLED emitter that passes through “quantum dots” to generate the colors. Compared to standard OLEDs, QD-OLEDs can hit higher brightness levels and richer colors, but you still get the deep blacks and contrast you’d expect. In practice, there’s little difference unless you know what you’re looking for. It’s also a glossy panel, which further enhances those rich colors. 

I ran a starfield test—used to reveal blooming and halo effects, which typically occur on screens with a limited number of local dimming zones—and saw none. OLEDs aren’t prone to this sort of issue, but I wanted to confirm that the QD-OLED wasn’t just marketing fluff for inferior tech. Top marks here: You won’t be disappointed by the picture quality. 

Ports and Connectivity

On the rear, you’ll find:

• 2x HDMI 2.1
• 1x DisplayPort
• 1x USB-C (with 90W power delivery)
• USB-A ports with an upstream USB-B
• A wired Ethernet port (100Mbps, not gigabit)

The Ethernet port is a curious addition, but combined with the USB-C power delivery, it means the 49Q1R can double as a docking station with plenty of power to charge your device. 

Device features are all controlled by a single, easy-to-use joystick. The interface for swapping between inputs is simple enough, though it can take a few seconds to switch. 

Picture-in-Picture and Multi-Input Modes

As you’d expect from something this wide, the 49Q1R supports various Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes. 

Most usefully, you can split the screen down the middle for two separate 16:9 inputs, which is great for multitasking across systems. There’s no peripheral sharing, though; this isn’t a KVM switch.

It also gets weirder with a full-screen phone input via USB-C. Yep, it has a phone mode. No idea when I’d ever use it, but it’s there, and it works.

What’s It Like to Use the InnoCN 49Q1R?

I’ve used this as my daily driver for about three weeks, and what surprised me most wasn’t the gaming but how absurdly useful it is for work.

I’m not great at focussing. I get bored quickly. I’ll write a paragraph, remember something I forgot to do, fire off an email, switch to some coding, bounce into a video edit, and then go back to writing. Until yesterday, I had 246 open Chrome tabs in one user session. Try managing that on a single 16:9 screen.

With this monster on my desk, I can see everything all at once. I barely use Alt-Tab anymore—I just glance left or right. It’s a productivity game-changer.

Also, that curvature reduces glare. I’ve got a huge window that catches the afternoon sun and was worried about reflections, but visibility has been excellent, even at just 250 nits. I don’t think a flat panel at 250 nits would cut it here, but the curve helps a lot.

Some say curved monitors are rubbish for productivity—great for gaming, but useless for spreadsheets. Allegedly, the lines curve and your eyes get tired. I tested this with Excel spread across the whole thing, and I didn’t notice any distortion at all. Maybe professional photo editors or very sensitive users might see it.

As for eye strain… I grew up being told not to sit too close to the telly. Now I’ve got VR goggles strapped to my face and a phone practically glued to my hand. I’ve always been short-sighted and it’s never worsened, so I’m calling that concern outdated.

Gaming on the InnoCN 49Q1R

Let’s be honest—this thing was made for gaming.

It’s worth noting, though, that not all games support 5120×1440. Some titles don’t play nicely, and while the monitor menu offers some compatibility workarounds to force a particular ratio, they can be hit or miss.

Cyberpunk 2077 worked great. Native support, although my poor RTX 3060Ti could barely manage 30fps. Remember, you’re effectively running 4K in terms of pixel count, just stretched wide.

LEGO Fortnite was a complete disaster. Only 16:9 resolutions are offered, and stretching looked awful. The compatibility modes didn’t work, and my only resort was to use the picture-in-picture mode to split the screen. 

Cities: Skylines 2 looked glorious. The ultrawide view makes city planning feel genuinely next-level, and the wider view enhances information-dense games.

GTA V Enhanced ran beautifully. You get fantastic vistas of the city and great immersion when driving. 

I also tried hooking it up to the PlayStation 5, but it wasn’t ideal. It doesn’t support 32:9 at all, so everything is stretched. You can do 1440p at 120Hz with HDR, but it’s basically just a 27” monitor with black bars on both sides. 

Speakers

The 49Q1R includes speakers. They exist. That’s the kindest thing I can say. InnoCN claims they’re “surround sound,” but they’re muddy, mid-heavy, and frankly not worth using. Slightly better than the ones in my Mac Mini, anyway. Gamers likely won’t care. 

Who Should Buy the InnoCN 49Q1R?

It’s marketed as a gaming monitor, but in my experience, it’s fantastic for productivity, too. I’m not a professional creative, so maybe I’m not sensitive to minor distortion, but I didn’t notice anything while editing video or wrangling spreadsheets.

If you’re juggling multiple apps, managing complex workflows, or just like the idea of seeing everything at once, you’ll love this. The curve helps reduce glare, and yes, you do have to turn your head a bit—but no more than you would with dual monitors.

Gaming-wise, it’s stunning. Rich colours, deep blacks, good brightness, and as immersive as you can get outside of VR. But you’ll need the hardware to drive it, especially if you want to hit 144Hz. Console gamers? Skip it. You won’t benefit from the extra real estate—it’ll just show up as a stretched 1440p screen.

The obvious comparison is the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9, which offers a higher 240Hz refresh rate but costs around $1400. There are cheaper Odyssey models too, but most lack USB-C and any kind of smart features like split input modes. Also worth noting is that the Samsung G9 series has had its share of problems—flickering, poor UI, and the dreaded “white screen of death.” Early reviews of the InnoCN 49Q1R, on the other hand, are very positive.

Overall, the InnoCN 49Q1R is a superb monitor at a fantastic price, packed with useful productivity features and very few compromises. It’s not just great for gaming but for everyday work use, too. 

Just make sure your desk is big enough.

If you’re looking for other options, make sure to check out our list of the best ultrawide monitors, especially those made for gaming. We also have a list of such monitors made for work.