Huawei to launch an 8K TV with 5G support, report says

Do you need a 5G TV? Probably not (at least for a while), but that, reportedly, won't stop China's Huawei from launching an 8K TV with a built-in 5G chip.

This is according to Nikkei Asian Review, which cites sources familiar with Huawei's plans. These sources claim that such a TV could be used to download special types of data-heavy content, including 360-degree videos and virtual reality videos.

The report is interesting because currently, Huawei doesn't sell TVs. It does sell an awful lot of phones, 5G equipment, and chips used in other brands' TVs, so a Huawei-branded TV isn't a very far-fetched notion. The idea behind the move, reportedly, is to catch up with companies such as Samsung, which sells a wider array of electronics devices, including TVs, smartphones and audio equipment.

A 5G TV wouldn't require a cable connection. A 5G connection, ideally, is fast enough for even the heaviest of data streams. Furthermore, Nikkei claims that such a TV could also double as a 5G home router.

But 5G is still in its infancy, and it's currently hard to imagine a data plan that could make such a device a good buy. And 8K TVs, which currently do exist on the market, also aren't particularly useful due to lack of 8K content.

The rumors about a Huawei smart TV aren't new; we first heard them in December 2018, with a possible launch date pegged at spring 2019. And a later report, from January this year, said Huawei would launch a high-end TV, while its sub-brand Honor would take care of the budget end of the market.

Despite all the recent controversy, Huawei's doing well. 2018 was financially very successful for the company, and a recent report by IDC said Huawei's on its way to become the world's largest smartphone maker.