Especially today, phones that cannot record 4K video and at least ‘Full HD’ monitors are not looked at. What is confusing while shopping is; There are phrases such as 2K, 1440p, 4K, QHD.
Although we are familiar with some of these, from time to time, the numerical equivalent of resolution can get ahead of its name for marketing purposes. Sometimes the opposite happens. Mostly resolution levels advancing according to a certain standard, so they may sound better/worse than they are.
Basically, the 480p, 720p, 1080p and other phrases we know are based on the number of vertical pixels.
For example, the image quality we keep in mind as 480p basically has a ratio of 848 horizontal pixels to 480 vertical pixels (on 16:9 ratio screens). 720p is the ratio of 1280 horizontal pixels and 720 vertical pixels.
At 1080p we see that this is 1920×1080. In the standard 16:9 ratio, if we multiply 1280 by 720 for the number of pixels on a 720p screen, we get the total number of pixels. This makes 921 thousand 600 pixels. In 1080p, this number increases to 2 million 73 thousand 600. In this way, higher pixel count also gives us more detail.
The letter ‘p’ next to these numbers also indicates how the image is projected on the screen. Here ‘p’ stands for progressive (continuous). This means that the entire frame on the screen is projected at the same time.
1080p is followed by 1440p and most people know it as 2K.
Here, again, there is 2560×1440 pixels on a 16:9 screen. You may have seen this in YouTube videos at well above 1080p. But we can’t say it’s very good. There were basically two reasons for this. The first was that hardware to offer this resolution specifically was not very common.
The second was that 1440p did not find much response on the user’s side. For someone using a 1080p monitor, 1440p didn’t sound very revolutionary. For this reason, we saw that this resolution was marketed as 2K and QHD. When you look at it, it is based on the horizontal pixel count of 2560.
Then why wasn’t it called 3K?
Because the ‘K’ doesn’t really matter here. After all, this is a supplement that came about with marketing goals. For 1440p, which comes after 1080p, it creates a perception that it is 2 times the previous one. There’s not much in the way of you saying 3K to a screen with 2880 pixels horizontally.
But this is not the main concern of companies. The resolutions we mentioned vary according to the usage area. For example, we have just given the pixel ratios specifically on a 16:9 screen. These values can play out for different purposes in different industries, and that’s why companies prefer not to use terms like 2K.
After all, both 2560×1440 and 2048×1080 resolutions are common, but when we gather them all under one roof, the chances of people getting the wrong product increase.
The situation is similar for 4K.
Here, too, there are 3840×2160 pixels in 16:9 screens that we are used to. But the 4096×2160 ratio is also quite common. As you will notice, here too, 3840 is based on the horizontal pixel count, not vertical like the previous ones. This is known as ‘4K’, which shows 4 times the performance of 1080p Full HD quality.
The fact that the games reached this resolution and the 4K value partially standardized on televisions and phone cameras also carried the popularity of the term 4K to very high levels. With this step, which is already a radical change, the interest of everyone, both inside and outside the industry, has been drawn.
The QHD we mentioned for 1440p means four times the HD resolution. In this context, the terms FQHD or UHD are sometimes used for 4K. This means that it is four times the known Full HD with 1080p. But it would be more accurate to consider it as a ‘category’ rather than a standard. Basically, this includes panels with a pixel count of 4000 levels horizontally.
However, as we said, this concept cannot be used other than for marketing purposes. The reason for this is that it does not have a certain standard. Because screen ratios and pixel counts can play, companies prefer not to give them all a single name, but for everyone to use what they need. As a result, we call 1080p Full HD based on 1080p at the rate of 1920×1080. But someone else might come along and base it on 1920 and think it’s 2K.
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