Announced last night at a huge event in the Stade de France, Philips is coming at us with a new gaming focussed brand, Evnia. The lineup announced not only includes a new line of gaming monitors but a branching out for Philips into peripherals as well.
The literal Greek Evnia, or Εύνοια, translates to "good in mind," a Philips spokesperson explained. "Smart thinking, in other words." Today, she continued, we use it to "show interest to protect and support someone or something." All this is what the Evnia brand stands for, and it shows a real push toward a more inclusive future for gaming, with a focus on "not just what is in the hardware, but it's also who is using it."
Coming in three distinct tiers, the 5000, 7000, and 8000 series, Evnia will soon bring us matching gaming monitors, mice, and keyboards.
At the top end comes a vast, 42-inch, flat-screen OLED gaming monitor, the catchily titled 42M2N8900, which will come in at 138Hz with a 0.1ms response and HDMI 2.1. We'll also see a 34-inch, curved OLED (the 34M2C8600), a UHD gaming monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio. A curved 32-inch, UltraWide monitor called the 34M2C7600MV will also be coming with a native 3440x1440 resolution, 165Hz refresh, DisplayHDR 1400 support. which is super descriptive. Also a high refresh, 27-inch curved VA screen is in the works.
Alongside the monitors announced, we'll be getting keyboards (sporting Cherry MX switches (the SPK8508 and SPK8708), two all new gaming mice (SPK9508 and SPK9708), and two gaming headsets (TAG5208 and TAG7208) so you can get a full Evnia setup going.
You can sync these up with Philips Ambiglow and manage them via another of Philips announcements last night: The Philips Precision Center, which will allow you to sync and save profiles into the cloud.
By December, we should see at least the 34M2C7600MV gaming monitor hit the shelves, with the 42M2N8900, 34M2C8600, and 27M2C5500W monitors following suit in mid-January next year.
We have confirmed pricing for the 34M2C7600MV, 42M2N8900, and 34M2C8600 at $1,800 (£1,600), $1,600 (£1,570), and $1,500 (£1,480) respectively. The lower-end 27M2C5500W will come in at $539 (£460). The US pricing for the latter is not officially confirmed, according to Philips, and is subject to change.
Sadly the accessories won't be coming until June next year.
