It appears some manufacturers might be downscaling 4K UHD monitors into 1440p QHD panels to save on production costs, a new report reveals.
As a result of downscaling, the refresh rate and image sharpness of these panels suffer, which are two of the pinnacle qualities of an excellent gaming monitor. If that's not bad enough, there's also the fact that they can't be upscaled to 4K because there's firmware that prevents it from doing so.
Some Companies Might Be Duping Customers By Selling Downscaled 4K Displays
The report comes from German review site Prad ProAdviser, claiming certain unnamed companies are using 4K UHD panels — 3,840 x 2,160 — and are simply downscaling them to 1440p — 2,560 x 1,440 — instead of producing native 1440p displays. As one can imagine, this yields several quality downgrades, particularly in terms of how the image is rendered. Long story short, a downscaled 1440p display might look worse than a true 1440p panel, despite having essentially similar resolutions.
Manufacturing shortages, coupled with the decreasing costs of 4K panels, could be the reason why this occurs, according to the report. Panel manufacturers Prad spoke to said it's sometimes cheaper to use 4K panels and just downscale them instead of producing lower-resolution 1440p variants from the ground up.
How To Check If Your 1440p Monitor Is A Downscaled 4K Display
There's no absolute way to determine if a 1440p monitor is merely a downscaled 4K panel, but Gizmodo presents one easy way of knowing: users can take a quick look at their monitor's spec sheet and try to look for the pixel pitch or pixel width, which should be a larger number on legitimate 1440p displays.
If it says something along the lines of .233 mm, then it's the real deal. If it's got a 0.16 mm pixel pitch, on the other hand — the same as a UHD monitor — then it's probably a downscaled 4K display.
Another way to easily check is by looking at plain text at its normal size. If it looks somewhat fuzzy or blurry, it's possible the display isn't native 1440p, at which point it's best if the user contacts the manufacturer to get some clarification.
Gamers often buy 1440p displays with high refresh rates to get the perfect balance between performance and display. Slipping in a downscaled 4K display seems somewhat fraudulent, given that customers aren't actually getting what they paid for.
What can you say about this alleged practice? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
