One of the biggest buzzes of CES 2019 was Samsung's new wave of 8K TVs. Sure, they were only really smaller versions of last year's Q900R, but that QLED set remains the most cutting-edge TV you can buy, at least in terms of screen resolution.
A lot of the really fancy TVs at CES don't arrive in shops until months later, and sometimes not at all. For instance, LG still has no official word on pricing for its rollable OLED TV – although we can tell you now it won't be cheap. Samsung is not messing about when it comes to its forays into 8K and it's already announced pricing and on-sale dates. And I will reveal them to you right after you have seen these exciting further reading opportunities…
Samsung already has 8K TVs in 65-inch and 75-inch screen sizes (pricing is below), but it's now rounding out the range with 75-inch, 82-inch and 98-inch (!) screens.
According to Samsung's own site, US pricing will be as follows:
• 82-inch Samsung 8K QLED TV, out March 22, $9,999 (£7,700)
• 85-inch Samsung 8K QLED TV, out February 8, $14,999 (about £11,500)
• The 98-inch model is TBC in terms of both price and launch date.
An 8K TV has a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels, which is 16x the resolution of full HD. As you'd imagine, there are all the usual bells and whistles of a high-end TV in 2019, with advanced HDR for better colour and contrast, a cutting edge smart TV platform, voice control and built-in AI. Apple AirPlay, iTunes video and music and HomeKit should also be added to Samsung's boxes of tricks in 2019.
The one thing that's lacking at present is 8K, as there is only one 8K broadcast channel in the entire world, and only a small smattering of demo videos available to stream. Samsung gets around this minor inconvenience by upscaling lower-resolution video to full 8K. As you'd imagine, this works somewhat better with 4K Netflix movies or UHD Blu-ray than it does with a standard-def clip sent from your mobile.
Via Sammobile