[sphericamBeast]

For 360º imaging in general, the higher the resolution the better. This is not only for VR applications, but also for use cases where the user is viewing only a portion of the image at one time. This includes filmmaking and broadcasting use cases, where a portion of the sphere is remapped to rectilinear (aka "normal") projection, and cropped to 4K or fullHD.

Also for applications in security and industrial, the higher the resolution, the better. So there is certainly a business case for 8K and higher.

The camera we are building utilizes four 4K sensors operating at 60FPS, with full raw capture in 10 bits. So the data throughput is the same as this Sharp camera. http://www.sphericam.com/sphericam-beast/ There is interest from the broadcast and filmmaking industries, as well as other industrial applications.

As far as this Sharp camera goes, I think the main business reason that this product exists is for the Tokyo Olympics, which will make a big push for 8K broadcasting, spurred by very considerable funding from many big players in Japan.