With countless smart devices available on the market, all with different-sized displays, varying screen resolutions, and special names for these technologies, it’s not easy to know the difference between them all. FHD this and WQHD. Well, the most important thing to note is the more pixels on the screen, the higher the definition of images and videos will be and the better things should look
But when frequently-used display resolutions are referenced with complicated names such as qHD, WQHD, and what not, it’s difficult to know what is what. We’ve laid out what these complex-sounding screen terminologies mean in the simplest terms so that the next time you buy a device, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. First off, let’s start with the basics.
HD and Full HD
Never has a technical specification been overused and misused as much as High Definition or HD. The term has become synonymous with anything that raises the detail or quality over and above something that came before. When we’re talking about display resolutions though, the term HD is based on the original resolutions of HD TV. These days when we say HD we’re talking about what gets called ‘Full HD’, a resolution that measures 1,920×1,080 pixels, often called 1080p. This display resolution is common on Smart TVs and many modern smartphones, PCs, laptops, and monitors. Both HD resolutions here use a 16:9 aspect ratio (so there are 16 pixels horizontally for each 9 vertically), which can be described as widescreen. However, on a phone 1,280×720 becomes 720×1,280 when it’s held normally. When HD TV first came along there were a handful of broadcast resolutions and display resolutions used. The most basic was 1,280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall, shortened to 720p. The lower-case p refers to “progressive scan” as opposed to say 1080i, which is ‘interlaced’ but we won’t get bogged with those here. Many budget phones use this resolution, but it’s not common for larger displays.
The other thing to remember is that no matter the screen size of say a Full HD display, whether it’s a 4 smartphone or a 65 inch TV, the number of pixels remains the same but just changes in size, so depending on whether they are smaller or larger, they will look softer or sharper. For instance, a Full HD smartphone has far more detail (sharpness), usually described as pixels-per-inch (ppi) than a Full HD monitor because the smaller screen is a higher density but has the same number of pixels, so a sharper picture..
QHD/WQHD
In the smartphone revolution of the last five or so years, manufacturers have been desperate to put higher resolution screens into phones even where they are not needed. It’s often argued that resolutions above that of Full HD are wasted on such comparatively small panels as even people with perfect vision find it hard to spot any difference. Nevertheless, phone makers have done it anyway, probably for marketing purposes. As a result, Quad High Definition (QHD) screens have become a popular choice in modern handsets. QHD is four times the definition of standard 720p HD, meaning you can fit the same number of pixels as four HD displays into a QHD display of the same size, namely 2,560×1,440 pixels, or 1440p. As with all HD-derived resolutions, this one has a wide 16:9 aspect ratio, so QHD can also be referred to as WQHD (Wide Quad High Definition), it’s the same thing, but some manufacturers put a W in front of the QHD to show that it has the wide aspect ratio.
2K
Sometimes QHD or WQHD is referred to as 2K, with the idea that it’s half the 4K HD resolution found on high-end TV sets (more about that later). But most of the time the 2K name cis is derived from the larger of the pixel measurements being over 2,000 pixels. Technically, the resolution standard for 2K is 2,048×1,080, meaning QHD is actually much better in resolution. QHD could even be referred to as 2.5K, but some people resist in calling these displays 2K.
qHD
qHD is not to be confused with QHD. Despite having a very similar name, qHD stands for Quarter High Definition and is a display resolution of 960×540 pixels – one-quarter of 1080p Full HD. This is used much less frequently these days. It was often found on high-end smartphones and handheld consoles — such as the Playstation Vita — around 2011, and if used today is usually found on much smaller device displays for a relatively high pixel density when anything higher would be wasteful.
4K and UHD
4K and Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolutions can be a cause for confusion because both terms are often used interchangeably when actually they are not the same. So we’ll need to do a little explaining of these, too. True 4K displays are used in professional production and digital cinemas and feature 4,096×2,160 pixels. UHD is different because it is a consumer display and broadcast standard with a resolution four times that of a Full 1080p HD resolution: 3,840×2,160 pixels. The difference comes down to slightly different aspect ratios between digital cinema and home displays. UHD is another 16:9 aspect ratio standard, which means screens are backward compatible with Full HD content.
Both 4K and UHD definitions could be shortened to 2,160p, to match HD standards that have preceded them, but this would make things even more confusing because while the pixel difference is relatively marginal, they are still different. Some brands prefer to stick to just the UHD moniker when marketing their latest TV to avoid confusion, but for the ease of marketing, it has meant that the two terms continue to be used interchangeably. So far, most phone manufacturers have avoided putting ridiculously high-resolution 4K screens into phones in a bid to preserve battery life.
