There it is: another press image of a giant-scale TV, sat in a lofty apartment, whose owner surely spends more time on their open balcony looking at the vistas yonder than watching the best streaming services in their concrete shell of a living room?
I get it, of course: such images are aspirational. As is the tech depicted. But 8K TVs have always sat in that distant, unreachable domain, really. The super-resolution sets – with 7680 x 4320 pixels, so almost 25 million extra pixels than 4K Ultra-HD – are the pinnacle of resolution and technological excellence.
Except there's a problem: you can't realistically see 8K's benefit unless you're so impossibly close to the panel. And that's assuming the upscaling algorithm has done its job well enough. Or that you're actually looking at 8K content – which is so incredibly rare that chances are you're almost certainly not.
LG exits 8K: The end of an era
LG has pulled out of the 8K TVs market this week, setting a strong signal of where the best TVs in this market are headed. I, for one, won't miss it. Neither will, well, anyone? The TV and movie industry never got behind 8K, given the giant cost implications and minimal consumer demand – as 8K TVs only make up around 0.1% of the whole market.
There are big changes happening of late, though, which represent bigger advances. Sony has sold its Bravia brand to TCL to take over operations. And Chinese makers such as TCL and Hisense are doubling down on giant-scale TVs at over 100-inches – all of which are 4K in resolution and showcase new technologies, not new resolution.
Yes, the TV market will still be full of unrealistic giant TVs in multi-million penthouse apartments. But those TVs depicted aren't about promoting resolution anymore, as new technologies take over. We're now in the era where colour and brightness are key factors – as are backlight technologies for improved accuracy.
CES showcases future TV tech
At the CES 2026 showcase this year it was clear to see that big TVs were in fashion. I'm not saying everyone's going to nip to the shops and buy a behemoth set any time soon, just as very few did with 8K, but as the backlight technologies trickle down to smaller sets, it's here that the everyday viewer will see benefits.
It's not just about the best OLED TVs anymore either – despite impressive new showings from LG in its G6 model – with TCL's 'Super Quantum Dot' tech offering the widest colour palette you'll ever see, for example, and Samsung's Micro-RGB set showing off colour and backlighting precision to a high degree.
New HDR formats are key – not resolution
That's what's going to make the biggest difference to our viewing in the future: colour, brightness and precision. That's where the TV and movie industry is moving, too, with grading happening at broader dynamic range scales than ever before, with new HDR formats – Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+ Advanced – able to eke more out of on-screen visuals.
Those are the technologies that will have the most impact, because they'll allow us to see tailored visuals depending on the kit we own, the technologies leveraged based on their physical surroundings, and presented to a viewer's tastes. While 8K might have sounded like a grand idea – and Samsung remains the sole supporter behind it (with its QN990F the latest) – it just doesn't have the reach, nor the necessity to make sense.
So I won't lament 8K TVs' passing. Rather, I'll be excited for the new technologies improving the future of viewing experiences. And if the industry focuses on more important matters than resolution – such as Samsung's S95H enabling more than four HDMI 2.1 ports (finally fixing my biggest bugbear with modern TVs) – then it'll be a better place for us all.
