4K resolution also called 4K2K refers to having a horizontal resolution on the order of 4000 pixels. It is standard for Digital Cinematography Initiatives and like all standards of performance typical of larger devices we want to apply it to our mobile devises, including phones. For the time being we will have to make do without this particular dream for a very simple reason that has been a major limiter for may forms of smartphone functionality, namely the energy budget of the device and its battery life. After all the initial and primary point of the mobile phone is to be well, mobile and not constantly plunged in. That’s what landlines are for.
So how much is too much loss of autonomy? Phones with 4K would have half a day of autonomy which would pose significant difficulties in many daily routines and when forced to chose between basic functionality and new exiting features most consumers will choose the former. Since this a question of battery life the issue is not easily fixed, as battery technology miniaturization has reached a point of diminishing returns in recent decades, with new smaller products focusing on making better use of their existing energy budget the solution looks to be quite far off.
Kevin Ho, President of Huawei’s Handset Product Line is optimistic saying that Huawei is working on new battery technology but it is still a couple of years off from releasing it to the public. Finally there is the issue of whether we would even be capable of noticing the difference between 2K and 4K resolutions on smaller phones. after all the human eye has it’s own resolution that si rather more difficult to improve upon.
Keeping this in mind, one can safely say that 4K resolution is quite far off, even the optimistic two year projection is far in the terms of mobile tech development, and when it will arrive it will be introduced to only a fraction of Smartphone models.