4k was the marketers cashing in a puffery token they'd been carrying for quite a long time by accurately measuring the short side of displays. They moved to me

4k was the marketers cashing in a puffery token they'd been carrying for quite a long time by accurately measuring the short side of displays. They moved to measuring the long side AND exaggerating by rounding up in the same generation, stealing the name of a slightly-better existing standard in the process. You're right that 8k makes sense so long as you accept 4k, though.