The HDMI Forum was widely expected to share more about the new HDMI 2.2 standard at CES 2025, and it didn’t disappoint.
Rumours of its impending announcement emerged at the tail end of last year, and as expected, the new HDMI 2.2 specification delivers on the promise of much faster speed, with support for 96Gbps, doubling the 48Gbps bandwidth supported by HDMI 2.1 cables.
Those faster speeds mean HDMI 2.2 will be able to cater to higher refresh rates, which means there is serious potential for higher-quality content across various televisions and gaming platforms that integrate the technology. It may also help to support the emergence of more data-intensive applications, such as virtual reality content and spatial reality, leading to some novel new consumer and commercial applications.
In addition, the HDMI 2.2 spec also supports next-generation HDMI Fixed Rate Link tech to enable higher resolution content to be delivered. According to the HDMI Forum, this means that users can be assured that certified displays will be able to support native video formats in the “best way possible” and deliver a more “seamless and reliable experience”.
There’s also mention of a new Latency Indication Protocol, or LIP, that’s said to support improved audio and videos synchronisation, which should be useful for “multiple-hop system configurations”, such as those using an AV receiver, soundbar or external speaker system.
Because of the improved specifications, users are going to need to purchase updated HDMI 2.2 cables that can handle the faster bandwidth and other new features. To be more specific, they’ll need to look for a cable that’s labeled as “Ultra96 HDMI”, and you can probably expect them to start appearing in stores in the next few months.
The other thing we learned today is that HDMI 2.2 is indeed known as “HDMI 2.2”. When we reported on the rumours last month, there was confusion about whether the updated spec would actually be called HDMI 2.2 or instead referred to as HDMI 2.1c. That’s because the last update, from the original HDMI 2.1 spec, was known as HDMI 2.1b.
It remains to be seen whether or not any new TVs or other devices will support the HDMI 2.2 specification this year. Generally, TV makers are keen to point out which of their new products are compatible with newer standards, but we haven’t seen any mentions of it in the TVs announced at CES so far, which suggests that TV makers may be taking their time to adopt the new specification. To be honest, that’s not surprising - while HDMI 2.1 was first announced in 2017, it wasn’t until 2019 that the first compatible TVs arrived.
The HDMI Forum itself says HDMI 2.2 will arrive “later in the year” without offering up any specific dates.
Chandlee Harrell, president of the HDMI Forum, said the organisation is continuing its mission to develop specifications that meet the HDMI ecosystem’s growing demand for higher performance and more advanced features.
“This new specification supports the fast-evolving landscape for amazing new technologies and products entering the markets now and in the future,” he added.
