Quick Summary
The HDMI Forum has teased the next generation of HDMI, with a full announcement tipped for CES 2025 in January.
The new standard is likely to introduce a new cable and connections, supporting higher bandwidth and refresh rates.
If you’re into your cables, then it’s time to get excited: the HDMI Forum is teasing the next generation of HDMI, which is expected to be announced at CES 2025.
HDMI is the universal standard for displays and entertainment devices, having graced the likes of TVs, DVD players, games consoles and set-top-boxes for many years now.
The current top specification is HDMI 2.1b, which was announced in 2023, but the biggest recent upgrade took place in 2017 with HDMI 2.1. It added support for 8K and 120Hz – and currently caters for games consoles like the PS5 Pro.
Little is said about the new announcement, but on the HDMI Forum, we’re treated to the message: "The next generation of HDMI technology is not going to invent itself. We are." In a press release distributed on 12 December, the HDMI Forum said that the new specification “enables a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates and will be supported with a new HDMI Cable.”
The next generation of HDMI is expected to be HDMI 2.2. It’s extremely unlikely that there will be any change to the connection itself to maintain the easy backwards compatibility, but there will be a new cable as data speeds and bandwidth will invariably increase.
The current HDMI supports 48Gbps and 10K resolutions, and perhaps we can get a glimpse at where HDMI might go from DisplayPort which currently offers higher bandwidth and refresh rates, allowing for higher refresh rates at higher resolutions, for example.
The new HDMI specification will pave the way for future entertainment demands, but it’s likely to be some years before that comes to devices. While there will be a new cable, having the new one won’t enhance your existing devices' properties. If you have an HDMI 2.1 device, connecting the higher-spec cable to it won’t make any difference.
It's likely that the new specification will first find its way into consumer realms through gaming, so perhaps it will be the PC market that first gets to take advantage of it. Televisions aren’t likely to carry the new standard until there’s some demand, which could be a few years off.
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