HDMI 2.2 can be introduced subsequent month — and it could require a brand new cable

The group behind the HDMI normal, HDMI Forum, says that it’ll element a brand new spec launch in a press convention on January sixth that can allow “a variety of upper resolutions and refresh charges.” The new capabilities can be “supported with a brand new cable,” in keeping with the HDMI Forum’s electronic mail to The Verge asserting the presser.

The spec is more likely to be HDMI 2.2, as VideoCardz notes. The Forum’s electronic mail hints at it too, noting that the HDMI Licensing Administrator, which two of the deliberate audio system on the occasion characterize, is appointed “to license Version 2.2 of the HDMI specification.”

HDMI 2.1, which has solely ever obtained lettered revisions since its 2017 introduction, helps 48Gbps bandwidth, as much as 120Hz variable refresh charges, and resolutions as much as 10240 x 4320. VideoCardz speculates that the up to date spec may permit for increased resolutions and framerates with out the necessity for Display Stream Compression.

Whatever the spec brings, that point out of a brand new cable is a tidy reminder that like USB-C, not all HDMI cables are the identical. It appears unlikely that HDMI Forum would change the port itself, so that you’ll in all probability have the ability to use your outdated ones with the up to date spec, and a few would possibly even assist its increased bandwidth. Still, there’s at all times the possibility you want contemporary cables to get the entire new capabilities when the time comes.