What Is 8K? Should You Buy a New TV or Wait?

pcmag.com:

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in 2021. After thoroughly reassessing the 8K landscape in mid 2023, we have determined that everything here is still relevant: the argument for 8K has remained largely unchanged. For example, there is a complete lack of any 8K consumer content. So, if you want the short answer, you still shouldn't buy an 8K TV now—and there probably won't be any reason to buy one for several more years.

Maybe you've had a 4K TV since they first came out. Maybe you upgraded only recently. Maybe you're still using a 1080p TV. Whatever your current screen status is, you've probably heard about what's coming after 4K: 8K. It's the next big jump in TV resolution. And like the upgrade from 1080p to 4K, the transition from 4K to 8K will require new technologies. Here's everything you need to know about 8K: what it is, when it's coming, and what it needs to work. The short explanation is: 8K TVs are here, but you shouldn't rush to buy one.

8K is a higher resolution than 4K—and that's it. Common 1080p screens have a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. 4K screens double those numbers to 3,840 by 2,160, thereby quadrupling the number of pixels. 8K doubles the numbers again to a resolution of 7,680 by 4,320. That's four times the number of pixels as 4K, which means it's 16 times that of a 1080p TV.

For context, look really closely at your TV. Try to find a single pixel (not the individual red, green, and blue lights; those are subpixels, which means you're too close). If you're looking at a 4K screen, imagine four pixels taking up the space of that single pixel. If you're looking at a 1080p screen, picture a grid of sixteen pixels, four by four, within that single pixel. That's 8K. It's much