Summary
- HDMI 2.2 offers 96 Gbps and 16K, but current content and hardware rarely need it.
- Most people are fine with HDMI 2.0/2.1; 2.2 will likely be an enthusiast upgrade for years.
- Expect slow uptake: TVs, GPUs, and content will take years before 2.2 is widely useful.
The HDMI format is continuing to evolve, and we’re now at the start of another generation with the advent of HDMI 2.2. This new generation promises speeds of 96 Gbps and resolutions up to 16K. This sounds great in a vacuum, but there are many things to be aware of. The main thing you need to know, and what’s going to hold this new format back, is that most people do not need anything like this.
Let’s rewind a little bit and look at HDMI 2.1. The PS5 and Xbox Series X generations take advantage of this by allowing 4K 120 FPS on the consoles. This is great for games that support that, but the reality is the vast majority of offerings are still at 4K at 60 FPS, and even that’s pushing it. The hardware limitations are obvious, and it’s going to remain an issue for years to come.
I wish that weren’t the case, and I would love to be excited about HDMI 2.2. As it stands right now, it seems like a format that’ll be useful in five years or even longer.
There has to be a reason to use the new format
Unfortunately, there isn’t one yet
The reality is that HDMI 2.0 is perfectly fine for most people. There’s still a ton of content out there that doesn’t even hit the limits of 4K 60 FPS the format provides, let alone anything in 8K. You run into hangups here and there, notably not getting the most from Dolby Atmos, but I’d argue that most people already leave a lot on the table when it comes to Atmos.
Until something absolutely mind-blowing comes along that people can’t resist getting their hands on, I don’t see a clear path forward for HDMI 2.2. Yes, it’ll come out, and people can upgrade to it, but I fear it will be for enthusiasts more than the everyday person. That’s not a horrible thing since a lot of technology is like that, but with HDMI cables being something that everybody needs, we’ll be looking at a situation where people might be filling their homes with HDMI 2.2 cables with nothing that fully utilizes them.
We’ve seen in the past that it’s difficult to force people onto a new format.
It’s not HDMI’s fault that technology isn’t moving quickly enough to fully use the format, but it does seem strange from the outside looking in. In a world where HDMI 2.0 is more than enough for most people, why are we already moving on from its successor? It feels like there’s going to be a lost generation of HDMI if that’s the case, or it could be a situation where we’re always ahead of the curve. I don’t like to use the word future-proof because it can mean a wide range of things, but it seems like buying an HDMI 2.2 cable when it comes out will be a perfect example. Technology will eventually mature into the need for this cable, and I can very easily see people 10 years down the line picking up a 2.2 cable for the first time because that’s when they’ll actually need it.
We’ve seen in the past that it’s difficult to force people onto a new format. It might not be the best example, since it’s a shrinking market, but you’ll find that DVDs still handily outsell both Blu-ray and 4K Blu-rays, despite being an inferior way to view movies. I’d say there are enough good reasons to upgrade to HDMI 2.1 if you haven’t already, but getting people to do so isn’t easy.
I don’t like it, but I have to accept it
It is what it is
I like to try out new technology as it comes out, so I’m excited about the arrival of HDMI 2.2. However, I’m not excited for these cables to come out with nothing to use them for. I don’t have an 8K TV, and I likely won’t have one for a very, very long time unless prices drastically come down. I also don’t have a TV that can do 4K 240 FPS, so it leaves me wondering what the cable is even for. When it comes out, it’ll be something that’s powerful, but nobody will really know what it can do until things start supporting it.
It’s great news for people who are slow to move on to new things. Just look at how long it took people to finally adopt 4K TVs as the norm, and I still know people who are just fine with their 1080p TVs — and the reality is that their 1080p TV is great in most scenarios. 4K streaming doesn’t look the greatest as it is, and depending on how far away you’re sitting, you might not even see the difference between streaming 1080p and 4K. Considering just how many people mount their TVs above fireplaces, I’m not sure picture quality is even a priority for a lot of people.
This ends up leaving people who are excited about the future of HDMI in a tough spot. It’s tough to get truly excited about the launch of HDMI 2.2 if nothing will use it. It’s a bit like how I feel about the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Yes, it’s a nice and powerful handheld console, but there’s so little to use it for at the moment. Aside from Donkey Kong Bananza, I’ve been mostly using mine to play last-gen games, and that’s not how I want to be treating a new generation of hardware.
Then again, we’re looking at HDMI 2.1 being five years old, and we still have TVs that launch with just a single HDMI 2.1 port, so it could be a long wait still for 2.2 to pave its way there.
For the first few years, it seems like HDMI 2.2 will be in a similar boat. It’ll be available, and you can plug it into your TV right away, but you likely won’t find anything to take advantage of for years to come.
The situation gets even murkier if you’re a PC gamer. As you might’ve noticed by now, graphics cards and monitors have largely moved on to DisplayPort as the norm. My RTX 3070 Ti only has a single port for an HDMI cable, so we’ll need GPU manufacturers to start adding HDMI ports back in. Thankfully, this isn’t an issue for people who primarily game on TVs, as DisplayPort never found its way over there.
Then again, we’re looking at HDMI 2.1 being five years old, and we still have TVs that launch with just a single HDMI 2.1 port, so it could be a long wait still for 2.2 to pave its way there.