Most people would be happy with a 65-inch 4K OLED television, but for those few who demand something bigger and better, LG has you covered. The company announced the world's first 88-inch 8K (7680x4320) OLED display, which it will be showing off at the Consumer Electronics Show later this month.
LG has been at the forefront of OLED display technology with a full range of 4K OLED TVs. Some of these received discounts during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping bonanza. We doubt LG will looking to replace these sets with 8K models anytime soon, but it is certainly not standing pat.
"The successful development of the world’s first 8K OLED display is a milestone for the 8K era and underscores the exciting potential of OLED," said In-Byung Kang, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at LG Display. "OLED is clearly a next-generation technology leader and for this reason, LG Display is accelerating its research and development into OLED so that we can provide differentiated products to customers and markets."
LG's massive display boasts 33 million pixels, which is four times more than 4K Ultra HD and 16 times as many as Full HD 1080p. According to LG, the significance of its 88-inch display is that it was able to build a massive 8K panel without compromising brightness.
"Higher resolution is achieved by reducing the size of each pixel and in turn aperture ratio, unavoidably reducing brightness. As OLEDs are self-emissive and therefore less affected by aperture ratio, they are optimal for 8K panels. On the other hand, non-emissive LCDs should improve the performance of their backlight units when achieving higher resolution in order to compensate for the drop in aperture ratio and brightness," LG explains.
Unfortunately LG didn't reveal the brightness level of its new display, nor did it mention if the 88-inch panel supports HDR. Those details and others will likely be made at CES.
While neat, we don't expect to be playing games at 8K anytime soon. it takes a high-end setup just to push 4K. That said, Square Enix last summer said that Final Fantasy 15 will support 8K when it arrives on PC.
