Whatever happened to 8K TVs?

More pixels weren’t enough to convince viewers or the TV industry that 4K needed to be replaced.

By Thomas Godwin Nov. 1, 2026 12:00 pm EST Darkwisper S/Shutterstock Add Engadget on Google: Google Discover

If you're up for a good laugh, go back and read some articles about 8K TVs from between 2016 and 2022 (give or take). At the time, you've have thought it was a done deal that TV tech was shifting to 8K, and consumers needed to just "get over it." Yet here we are in late 2026, and there are about as many 8K TVs in homes as there are Atari Jaguars and Nintendo Virtual Boy consoles.