Sharp to release world's first 8K TV in 2018

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4K? Pfff. Sharp is promising its 70-inch 8K TV will go on sale next year. The company also showed-off frameless, 'free form' and 'roll type' displays.

Big TVs are a good way to attract some attention at a trade show, and IFA is no different. Sharp is never one to shy away from a supersize-screen and this year's effort came with an extra headline-grabbing specification: 8K resolution.

Sharp is insisting its 70-inch LC-70X500 8K TV will be the first consumer-ready 8K TV to go on sale when it does so in March 2018 in Japan and China. Those of us in Europe and Taiwan will have to settle for an 8K monitor, the LV-70X500E.

The 'AQUOS 8K' LCD screens have a resolution of 7680 x 4320, which means 16 times the number of pixels compared to a full HD TV.

Sharp has already released 70- and 85-inch 8K monitors in Japan, both of which are compatible with the company's 8K satellite broadcast receiver. In fact, the company showed them at IFA 2016.

Not content with upping the resolution ante, Sharp is also showing frameless, 'free form' and 'roll type' screens.

Naturally, they're world firsts - the first 70-inch frameless LCD TV, the first 39.4-inch (specific) free form display and the first 60in full HD roll type screen.

It may all seem a little unnecessary for settling down in front of Masterchef but when it comes to imagining the future shape of screens in our homes, it gives us an idea of what is possible and what could be next.

Read more:

IFA 2017 highlights

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Sony launches three new 4K HDR projectors

Philips unveils quantum dot 8000 series and flagship 65in 4K OLED TV

Panasonic unveils new smart speaker, huge OLED TV and more

Technics goes back to the future once more with SP-10R turntable

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).