Sharp is known to be at the forefront of display technologies and their latest prototype almost defies belief. During CEATEC, which is Japan’s version of CES, Sharp unveiled a new prototype which provides an insight into the future of monitors. The product sports a resolution of 7680×4320 which translates to 8K on a 27-inch panel. This equates to an extraordinary PPI rate of 326 and offers unparalleled clarity. Not only that, the display supports a 120Hz refresh rate which makes it suitable for gaming and HDR. Interestingly, the HDR has a peak luminance of 1000 cdm2 which makes traditional monitors look quite washed out.
On another note, the panel revolves around indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) which has an improved conductivity at smaller sizes compared to silicon. As a result, the screen can be more densely packed and doesn’t require a strong backlight. As you might expect, IGZO technology allows for lower power consumption and high refresh rates while pushing so many pixels. Given the innovative nature of this design, the retail model will cost an extortionate amount although prices will eventually be accessible within the next 5 years or so. If this is what the future holds for displays, I cannot wait to move beyond 4K or see how the 21:9 aspect ratio progresses.
It looks like we’re reaching phone display levels of pixel density on monitors. When you really think about it, for anything smaller than 32-inch 4k is more than enough. At 326ppi you can’t tell the pixels apart no matter how close you look and considering that this is a desktop monitor, you’ll always be sitting at least 30cm away from the panel. For now I just want an 120hz 4k display with OLED/IPS HDR and freesync/G-sync.