The HDMI Forum plans to unveil HDMI 2.2 officially at a press conference on January 6th, 2025. The organization plans to reveal the new specification of the next-generation of the HDMI standard.

The official press release does not reveal much about the upcoming standard, only this much: " The new specification, with next-gen HDMI(R) Technology and higher bandwidth, enables a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI Cable".

HDMI 2.2 is mentioned explicitly in the press release.

To sum it up:

• Will support higher resolutions and quality, and refresh rates.
• Requires a new HDMI cable.

Specifics have not been mentioned, but a look at the current standard HDMI 2.1 may help. It supports a bandwidth of up to 48 Gbps and uncompressed resolutions such as 4K at 120 Hz and 8K at 60 Hz.

HDMI 2.2 should improve that, for instance by enabling uncompressed 8k at 120 Hz or even 10K.  The requirement for new cables could mean an even bigger jump.

May take years for devices to become available

As is the case with most standards, it may take years and not months before devices that support it are released.

HDMI Forum announced HDMI 2.1 in January 2017 at CES. Microsoft's Xbox One was one of the first devices to support HDMI 2.1 features such as Variable Refresh Rate. This started in 2018.

The first graphics adapters with support were launched in 2020. Nvidia released the GeForce RTX 3000 series and AMD the Radeon RX 6000 series in the year.

This means that the next Nvidia and AMD video cards will likely not support HDMI 2.2. The same is true for Nintendo's Switch 2 console, which is also expected to be released in early 2025.

Closing Words

It may take a year or even longer before devices that support HDMI 2.2 are released. The next PlayStation or Xbox could very well support it, but both consoles are years away at this point.

On PC, gamers and enthusiasts may also need to wait a year or more before the new standard becomes available.

That leaves entertainment, but 8K and beyond is still mostly an enthusiast's thing.

What is your take on HDMI 2.2, and 8K and higher resolutions? Is that something that interests you? Feel free to leave a comment down below.