The cost of manufacturing a 27-inch 4K monitor is sometimes cheaper or at the same price as producing a 27-inch 1440p monitor. However, using a 4K panel and selling it as a 2K monitor can result in a reduced quality image.
German website Prad.de broke the news that that the costs of producing a 27-inch 4K (3840 x 2160) panel is often cheaper or at par with producing a 27-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) panel. The site says that companies have been using 4K panels and have been advertising them as 1440p monitors. This is said to happen when panel supplies are low and/or monitor demands are high.
Prad.de doesn’t mention the manufactures that may be engaged in these practices or which are the specific models in the market that have these panels. However, the portfolio of 1440p monitors in the market is very large.
If you are one that has a 1440p monitor with a 4K panel, and are looking to exploit its 4K capabilities, then there is some bad news for you. The native resolution of the monitor is limited to 1440p through the panel’s firmware. Since the resolution is scaled down, a trained eye can observe the reduction in image quality.
According to techspot, “One way to spot if your 1440p monitor is using a 4K panel is by looking at the screen text, which may appear blurrier than monitors that feature actual QHD panels. A reduced image quality is unlikely to be noticeable when playing games or watching video clips, though. But if you want to be certain, try to find where it specifies the model's pixel size. On a 27-inch 1440p monitor, it should be around 0.23mm, whereas with 4K panels it’s 0.16mm.”
According to Prad.de, “Even a test pattern with a fine pixel structure can show whether everything is crisp and sharp or whether it is interpolated. Most users will not notice this at first glance, but the monitor is not operated in the actual native resolution (UHD), and thus the pixels at the QHD resolution are not displayed 1: 1 pixel-accurate. This inevitably leads to a loss of sharpness. For a Full HD monitor, that would be a bit different, because there would simply be four instead of one pixel. A loss of sharpness is then almost impossible.”
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