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A recently filed trademark application submitted by Samsung in early August may suggest that the company has plans to take its 8K upscaling solution outside of the television market. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filing covers the marketing slogan “Turn what you love into 8K,” which actually fits well with the Samsung Q900R TVs revealed at this year’s IFA trade show. For clarity, those will ship later this year with support for the resolution in question and the ability to upscale almost any content to 8K using AI and a ‘Quantum Processor 8K.’ So televisions are effectively a given at this point and Samsung will undoubtedly use the trademarked phrase in conjunction with those products. However, although televisions are included in the product scope of the filing, Samsung also protected the term in regards to many other use cases.
In fact, there are several other devices where an 8K resolution would be possible and Samsung happens to manufacture every one of those or could feasibly license the capabilities for those it doesn’t sell. For starters, the trademark applies more generally to LED displays. That includes those found on virtual reality headsets, tablets or laptops, video projectors, set-top boxes, smart watches, other wearables, cameras, mobile phones, and computer monitors. Samsung has already launched new Android devices in the smartphone, smartwatch, and tablet categories, in addition to the above-mentioned televisions. It also revealed minor updates to its Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro laptops earlier this year. So there doesn’t seem to be much chance that new devices will appear with the trademark in those categories.
Having said that, that doesn’t rule out the possibility either. 8K upscaling would be particularly useful in VR hardware where resolutions can make a huge difference in both immersion and usability. VR display panels have been a key focus for the Korean tech giant over the past several months and it does have at least one in the works with a pixel density of around 1,200 ppi. Although speculative, that could be one area where Samsung plans to bring its new trademark to bear. In any case, Samsung seems to be putting its full weight behind its new 8K-upscaling solution with this trademark. So it could show up in Blu-Ray players, smart home platforms, or even in third-party hardware via licensing (e.g. projectors).
