HDMI has been the main connectorof choice for living rooms for tenner . It connect telly to consoles , to Blu - irradiation players , to A / Little Phoebe systems , and it ’s even a great junior-grade connector for gaming personal computer owner who ’d rather not use DisplayPort . But as much as HDMI has improved over the years , it ’s also fallen behind some of the competition , namely coming out of China .
A new connector character , GPMI , was recently announced , and along with USB - C compatibility , it has options to more than double the usable bandwidth of even HDMI 2.2 , and it declare oneself power delivery far in excess of anything else out there ; USB4 included .
But while this new Chinese touchstone has the potential to steal the jewels from HDMI ’s crown and run off with them into the sunset , it ’s not potential to be competitory with HDMI any sentence soon ; at least in Western markets .
China
What is GPMI?
GPMI , or the imaginatively named , General Purpose Media Interface connexion and cable , wasannounced in former Apriland made a adult spatter when it did . Created by theShenzhen International 8 K Ultra High Definition Video Industry Collaboration Alliance(SUCA ) , this Chinse group is made up of major mark like TCL , Hisense , and the Western - ostracise Huawei .
GPMI comes in two master flavors at the time of writing : GPMI Type - C , and GPMI Type - B. The former , is the more - universally designed , USB - C eq , withUSB - ampere-second compatibilitythat is fully certified and legitimately supportive of USB - C connections . If you have a USB - C equipment , it should work just fine with GMPI Type - C.
That connector is the less telling of the two , but still very capable , bid up to a 96 Gbps data point transfer rate ( equivalent toHDMI 2.2 ) and up to a 240W business leader delivery system , which is akin go the best USB4 connectors and allows for topnotch fast charging . That ’s something that HDMI does n’t offer up at all , and though it ’s not something HDMI was designed for , power bringing is an increasingly utile capableness for a cable connector , and one that gives USB - 100 and its equivalent weight ( like GPMI ) a meaning reward over HDMI in certain scenario .
TheRegisti / Unsplash
But that ’s just the start with GPMI . The Type - B standard is proprietary , so lacks any kind of exchangeability with USB - C , but where it miss that bread and butter , it more than score up for it in its capabilities and show that the Chinese companies behind it are n’t just looking to vie with HDMI , they ’re hoping to one twenty-four hours supplant it .
If the specs are anything to by , that could be possible in the not - so - distant hereafter . And it ’ll give just about every other cable type a political campaign for their money , too .
GPMI Type - B has a entire bandwidth capability of up to 192 Gbps . That ’s double what HDMI 2.2 can do , more than double what DisplayPort 2.1 can do , and more than double what the absolute safe USB4 / Thunderbolt 5 can cope . The 80 Gbps cables have only just started prove up for some of these model , and HDMI 2.2 ’s take performance is n’t even coming until later in 2025 for the transmission line , and former 2026 for the equipment .
HDMI 2.1 cables can have labels like UHD, or 8K on them, but otherwise look the same as any other HDMI cables.Cable Matters
While GPMI Type - B is n’t wide available yet either , on the specs table it holds a lot of advantages which could give HDMI and others a real problem .
Whether character - B or Type - C , too , GPMI was designed to offer a listing of important characteristic in one singular cable’s length , addressing many of the outstanding issue with HDMI and many of its alterantives :
If it manage to achieve those goal when it becomes more wide available in the months and years to come , it ’s go to be a serious rival in the A / V and Computing spaces .
GPMI vs HDMI
On the specification mainsheet , GPMI is way ahead of the game . Its Type - B bandwidth of up to 192 Gbps give it a huge advantage over HDMI 2.1 ’s 48 Gbps , and even HDMI 2.2 ’s 96 Gbps . There ’s more straightforward rival with the Type - C connection , but that USB - C compatibility gives GPMI an reward again , and it ’s not like there are any HDMI options when it comes to business leader delivery .
So where can HDMI compete ? feature , widespread borrowing , and mindshare . Where higher specifications are always nice , they do need to exist in the real world , not just in theory .
HDMI has alotof feature that have become part and parcel of land of the modernistic animation - room amusement experience . It supports all the main HDMI monetary standard , it keep going mainstream high refresh rates and resolutions , it supports display watercourse densification ( DSC ) , it supports chroma subsampling , it has fully documentation for variable refresh rate and auto low latent period way for play , as well as ready flesh transport and straightaway medium switching for reduced wait times during media conversion . It also introduced rootage based quality single-valued function in HDMI 2.1a , and HDMI 2.2 will bring a new latency indication protocol ( LIP ) which will help improve audio and telecasting synching between devices , especially when there is a more complex A / V scheme in economic consumption .
HDMI is also completely ubiquitous . It ’s usable in multiple versions and ports on every unmarried New tv set , it ’s in role by all the main games console , is present as a video output on most advanced laptop , and every microcomputer graphics card has one alongside DisplayPort and USB - C options . HDMI cable are also backwards compatible , and have been in use for over two decades on a range of devices .
HDMI is everywhere and has been for a retentive time , making put back it about more than just beat it on the specs table .
Why specs aren’t enough
GPMI has everything go for it to become a genuine powerhouse connection ; If it gets the bread and butter it needs . As it stand , democratic Taiwanese brands like Huawei , Hisense , and TCL are behind its development and may well include these connectors on their future video and devices . But while these brands are giants in China and hold substantial position within Western markets , they do n’t hold a candela to the proliferation of devices from Samsung , Sony , and LG . All of those brands use HDMI and wo n’t be piercing to offer an incentive to drive up borrowing for other brand name and their proprietary connectors ( or the USB - C compatible option ) .
Then there ’s the fact that no devices support it , yet . countenance ’s say LG does stick a GPMI port on its next - generation idiot box in 2026 . What will anyone connect to it ? It ’ll be used as a USB - deoxycytidine monophosphate alternative if at all , and most people wo n’t even know what it does . There are no games console table that can practice it , no Blu - ray players that can take advantage , and no A / V systems that affirm it either .
But have ’s adopt an even more idealistic scenario and that somehow in a few year meter that there are both telecasting and gadget that plump for GPMI and there are cables uncommitted in forcible retail outlets in Western markets , as well as increased coverage that makes it a realistic selection for consumers who need a new cable length . They ’re choosing between HDMI and GPMI . There ’s still no real need for all that bandwidth .
As it remain firm , HDMI 2.2 can handle 8 K at over 120Hz , 4 K at up to 480Hz , and resolutions at lower refresh rates up to 16K. Most mainstream telly at this time are 4 K 120Hz , as game consoles and gaming personal computer do n’t tend to be able-bodied to do more than that . 8 kB is n’t really taking off and even if it did , it wo n’t become mainstream for at least a decade . Higher refresh rate are utilitarian but not really beyond a certain point .
Just what is GPMI actually going to proffer to hoi polloi that they could n’t just get with HDMI , which is what they know and is backward compatible ?
The future
No one knows what the hereafter will defend , but we can make some very impregnable shot ground on marketplace experimental condition and chronicle . My prediction ? HDMI continues to dominate and while GPMI delineate some success in Chinese markets and might even have on the odd Western - sold TV , it never break into the market like it could and should , if all else were equal .
Techsponentiallead analyst , Avi Greengart , tell me that he feels GPMI will continue to recrudesce and may see some success , but HDMI is n’t done evolving either .
“ We ’re increasingly pick up a split between China and the rest of the humanity , and Chinese companies let in Huawei , TCL , and HiSense are guide backer of GPMI , ” he differentiate me during our conversation . “ The expert intelligence with this standard is that it ’s actually a standard – the glasses are available for anyone to embrace . There are scenarios where GPMI can do things that the current version of HDMI ca n’t , but HDMI will continue to develop , too . As of yet I have n’t realise any products with GPMI port , but I would expect that GPMI will coexist with HDMI ( and Thunderbolt and DisplayPort ) for a long fourth dimension , even inside China , to maintain compatibility with existing product in the grocery store . ”
And that ’s the matter . No standard , even a better one , can tangle in and take over based on its specification sail alone . These thing take clip . It ’s a slow moving ship , but even if GPMI can modify its direction a little , there ’s too much history with HDMI to to the full supplant it without considerable time and consistent effort .
