[UPDATE: Samsung has been in touch to say since this story was first published that it can no longer confirm that the exact screen sizes and refresh rates quoted in its presentation will be correct when the TVs are formally launched.
The story appears below in its original form.]
Samsung has revealed at the current 2018 QLED And Advanced Display in Los Angeles that it is going to be releasing not one but two new ranges of TVs with 8K resolutions in the next few months.
Details on the two ranges are pretty spartan so far; it seems that the TV brand is holding back full details for the IFA Technology show taking in place in Berlin, Germany from August 29th. But here’s what we do know.
The first range is going to be launching before the end of 2018; in fact, my understanding is that the debut models will be available shortly after their ‘official’ unveiling at IFA.
This debut 8K range will be available in 65, 75 and 82-inch sizes, with a massive 98-inch model set to follow in 2019. Samsung also revealed that these 8K TVs are going to be 120Hz models.
The second series of Samsung 8K TVs won’t be launching until an unspecified date in 2019. This range is currently only confirmed as having two screen sizes: 65 inches, and 75 inches. And they’re apparently going to drop down to native 60Hz refresh rates.
This latter fact leads me to suspect that this 2019-launching range is going to be positioned as a more value-oriented proposition, whereas the 2018 debut models are going to be reasonably premium affairs.
It’s worth stressing here, too, that all of Samsung’s 8K screens are going to be actual TVs aimed at the living room, rather than just monitors targeted first and foremost at the commercial market like Sharp’s already-launched debut 8K screen is.
The revelation about Samsung’s two 8K TV ranges came at the end of a presentation by a Samsung product spokesman in which he discussed a ‘New Paradigm’ of TVs. This future generation of TV technology, he claimed, would offer 8K resolution; full BT.2020 color range coverage; ’Next Gen HDR’ (built around 4,000 nits of brightness); and 12-bit color depth support.
Also discussed as innovations Samsung is working on were Cell Gap improvement technology, which uses ‘RGB overlap area flattening’ to counter 8K screens’ issues with reduced brightness; and new Spatial Division Pixel technology that uses a new sub-pixel design to remove LCD’s traditional viewing angle limitations.
It should be said that it seems highly unlikely that either of Samsung’s first 8K TV ranges will carry any of these ‘next gen’ features. Though it’s tempting to think, at least, that they might carry the new HDMI 2.1 connection format. Especially the 120Hz models.
Needless to say I will bring you more details on Samsung’s 8K TVs as soon as they’re revealed at IFA.
--
If you found this story interesting, you might also like these:
Samsung QN65Q9FN Review: QLED Strikes Back - With A Vengeance
Samsung 2018 QLED TVs: Full Details Finally Revealed
