I would not buy a 4K TV based on resolution alone anymore, and here is why

When I started looking at 4K TVs, resolution was one of the first things I checked. A 4K panel sounded like a clear upgrade over a Full HD TV, and for a long time, that was enough to make a TV feel more premium. I do not think that way anymore.

The TV market has changed quite a bit, almost every new TV in the mid-range and premium segments now comes with 4K resolution, so the number of pixels alone does not tell me much about how good the picture will look. What matters more now is what the TV does with those pixels.

That includes the panel technology, image processor, upscaling, brightness, contrast, colour reproduction and refresh rate. And in 2026, AI has become a much bigger part of that equation, with manufacturers pushing AI-powered picture and sound processing across their TV ranges. Samsung, for example, has expanded its Vision AI features across its 4K and higher-resolution TVs this year.

What matters more than the resolution

4K is now the starting point, not the upgrade