The transition from 720p to 1080p went faster than expected on mobile devices, and it is not going to settle in the near future as Qualcomm intends to up the pace once again with faster processors capable of higher resolutions on mobile handsets. In an interview with Tim McDonough, Qualcomm’s Vice President of Marketing, he explained that Qualcomm’s main focus at the moment is 4K resolutions.
“I think 4K is one of the primary things you are seeing from us, 4K is pretty cool because it means that not only can you do 4K video, but once you can push that number of pixels and the chip has the ability to do 4K video, anything that is multimedia related – think about gaming – that gets better too.”
The 4K resolution has been extremely appreciated by users last year, and manufacturers haven’t kept their eyes closed on this as well. They sped up and optimized the process of delivering 4K capable displays which can be seen in Ultra-HD TVs lowering their prices from around $30,000 to less than $1000. 4K monitors haven’t fallen behind, with Dell releasing the 28-inch 4K display at a price tag of $699. Even so, most consider that 4K displays aren’t a necessity for handsets, but that won’t stop manufacturers such as Qualcomm from releasing 4K capable handsets this year. Even researches in South Korean haven’t neglected the 4K resolution, since they are working on the 5G network connectivity which will be dedicated to streaming Ultra-HD videos.
“In November we announced Snapdragon 805, the next-generation of 800. Our shorthand for that is that it is the Ultra HD mobile processor and it runs Ultra HD. It will shoot it with video, it will play it back, it will play it back with surround sound and it will run an Ultra HD UI, It has already sampled and we said the first half of 2014 for devices to launch.”
Will 4K on handsets be just a waste of money and a battery drainer, or will it be the next big thing? Given that even Apple is planning on releasing iPhones with bigger displays, and taking into account the current 12.2-inch tablets and 6-inch smartphones available on the market, 4K resolution would most probably be required for future mobile devices.
Thank you KitGuru for providing us with this information
I think displays look beautiful at the current 1080p on high end phones. I have a 4.3″ mid range phone at 720p and I think it looks great as well. 4K is just a natural progression but it won’t end there.