TCL's Latest 6-Series Television Is the First Affordable 8K TV

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- HUNTER FENOLLOL

AS 4K TELEVISIONS SET THE NEW DEFINITION standard, manufacturers are already shifting their efforts toward production of 8K units. But in a race to build a competitive 8K set, no brand has been able to balance the unprecedented resolution with a reasonable price. According to Ross Young, CEO of the screen-centric market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, “8K TVs are expensive to make because panel yields are lower, there's more pixels, and driver IC costs are higher since they scale with resolution.” In layman's terms, the manufacturing cost is high due to the panel and component requirements needed to hit the 7,680 by 4,320 resolution. (That's quadruple the number of pixels in 4K.)

You can best see this in texture definitions and patterns, along with a wider dynamic color range. Sharp introduced the first 8K TV in 2015 for the staggering price of $133,000. And while you no longer have to take out a second mortgage to buy an 8K-capable television, up until 2021 you could expect to shell out at least $3,500 for one. Even as an avid gamer and weekend cinephile, I wouldn't dare spend that kind of money-and neither would the average buyer.

“Generally, manufacturers like to launch their next resolution bump in TVs in larger sizes to justify the stratospheric costs that usually come with the new sets," says Anshel Sag, an analyst specializing in consumer tech trends for the research firm Moor Insights & Strategy. These larger panel fabrications drive up the price, putting an 8K TV further out of reach for the average consumerwith the additional drawback of stifling the incentive to create 8K content. Even 4K media isn't the official standard just yet. “While most streaming services do support 4K natively, especially with their own original content, it still isn't as common as one would expect with the current price of 4K TVs," notes Sag.