““The dramatic improvement of screens in battery operated devices, coupled with the emergence of 4K and 4K with HDR streaming offerings through services such as Amazon, Netflix and others, makes it possible for consumers to get a much richer and more immersive experience on their computers, tablets and smartphones,” said UHDA President, Hanno Basse. “The expansion of our certification of logo program will help consumers identify premium portable products that take full advantage of the wealth of HDR content coming to market.”

The mobile category surpassed the in-home category in consumer entertainment device spending in 2013, and Statista predicts that mobile video internet traffic, which is currently over 3.5 million terabytes per month, will reach nearly 23 million terabytes per month by 2020. Ooyala’s Global Video Index found that 52 percent of all video streams in the third quarter of 2016, both short and long form, were viewed on mobile devices.

“Portable devices are a primary mode of video consumption and the category itself is a key component of the rapidly expanding Ultra HD ecosystem,” added Basse.

Since its introduction, consumer adoption of Ultra HD hardware and software has seen incredible growth with an estimated 100 million households worldwide currently enjoying an Ultra HD experience, and by 2020 it is estimated there will be 450 million UHD TV households.*

As the category has grown, so has the UHD Alliance, which was founded in April 2015 by 10 companies and now counts more than 50 global leaders in consumer electronics, entertainment, content distribution and technology among its membership. The UHDA unveiled its Ultra HD PREMIUMTM certification and logo program for televisions and pre-recorded content at CES® 2016, followed swiftly by certification of Ultra HD Blu-ray players last April.

The UHDA MOBILE HDR PREMIUM specifications cover a range of devices, screen sizes and resolutions with parameters for dynamic range, color space and bit depth:

Licensing of the MOBILE HDR PREMIUM specification and logo is expected to begin by April 1, 2017.”

*FutureSource Consulting, Q3 UHD TV Tracking

So, there’s that. This news is timely, as Sony has just announced the first smartphone with a 4K HDR screen, the Xperia XZ Premium (read more here). Meanwhile, here’s the official logo the UHDA has created:

Back later. Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt