8K TVs have been on the market for a long time now, but they’ve never quite caught on, and every year someone asks, «is this the year that it happens?»
Buying a new TV can get complicated. Most top-rated models offer lengthy lists of built-in features and technologies, some of which are worth paying for, and some of which aren’t. 8K resolution is one high-end feature that’s been around for a while now, first debuting in TVs in the early 2010s. However, it hasn’t really made it into the mainstream.
Back in 2022, we put together a list of all the reasons why it wasn’t worth buying an 8K TV, citing a lack of native 8K content and high initial cost as notable drawbacks. In 2024, we asked again whether an 8K TV was worth it, and came to the same conclusion. Two more years have passed since then, so has the situation changed? Not really. If anything, the continued lack of 8K content after so many years of 8K TVs being available is an even bigger reason to stay away from them.
When new technologies become available, it’s natural for their makers to hail them as the future of the industry. However, from its early days, 8K TVs have suffered from significant limitations. One of the biggest is price, with 8K displays costing far more than their 4K counterparts. To take just one example, a Samsung 65-inch 8K QLED TV has a list price of $3,097.99 on Amazon at the time of writing, while a similarly feature-rich Samsung 65-inch 4K QLED TV is available for $1,497.99.Limited content matters as much as the high price
Convincing buyers to pay roughly double to upgrade to 8K was always going to be a tricky to pull off.
