14 DAY TRIAL // Every once in a while, sharp contrasts appear in all layers of human society, and that goes especially for technology, where time and rising expertise always bring down prices of once unreachable inventions, like 4K TVs.
The actual term used to market displays with a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels is UHD, short of ultra high-definition.
4K was used first, though, and everyone seems to have latched onto it, so it's no surprise that companies continue to use it in their advertisements and PR releases.
Unfortunately, for all their public support, and the money invested in them, 4K displays, particularly 4K TVs, haven't been selling too spectacularly. Sure, they reached 1.9 million in 2013, but the world is a big place so that's not much in the grand scheme of things.
And that's because they have very high prices. In fact, some of them, the ones with a size of 110 inches, can reach $150,000 / €109,000.
Obviously, that's not something anyone can afford, although we suppose that only people with that much cash to spare also have homes big enough to accommodate the monsters.
Still, even the smaller UHD TVs need a lot of cash to change hands before they finally get shipped to your home.
This will change in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prices will actually fall to below $3,000 / €2,200, give or take.
Sony, LG and Toshiba already ship such products actually, and CES 2014 (taking place between January 7 and 10) is bound to usher in a few more, perhaps even from other suppliers.
There are lesser known brands who sell them for less than $1,000 / €1,000 too, but those products don't come with the same performance/quality/endurance certifications and brand reputation as the others. Then again, you get what you pay for, we suppose.
According to analysts, because of all this, shipments will reach 12.7 million in 2014. Quite a leap from the 1.9 million we have mentioned above.