HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface
A standard for audio/video cables and connectors. HDMI carries video and audio over a single cable. It supports high-definition (HD) video and multi-channel audio (surround sound.) It carries an all-digital signal, ensuring high quality. It also supports DRM, to prevent copyrighted content form being copied illegally.
Standard HDMI cables are commonly used to connect video sources (such as cable, streaming, and other "set top" boxes) to a television.
Some high-end phones can output video as an HDMI signal via the phone's USB-C connector, using a special feature of USB-C called Alt. Mode. This requires a special USB-C-to-HDMI adaptor cable.
See: USB-C
See: Alternate Mode
At one time, before USB-C became standard, a very few phones had a dedicated Mini-HDMI (Type C) or Micro-HDMI (Type D) connector right on the phone.
Last updated Nov 14, 2019 by Rich Brome
Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.
