Can Apple Achieve a Retina Display on the iPad?

ByMike Moffit

When Apple adopted the retina display on the iPhone 4 last June, they made arguably one of the best computing displays every created. Simply the amount of pixels they are able to pack into a small 3.5-inch display is remarkable. The term retina was used because the pixels are packed so tightly, most human eyes cannot see them. This makes reading text much more pleasurable and renders photos and webpages with amazing detail.

There is no doubt Apple wants to put a retina display on the iPad. It would make the iPad not only the best tablet display (by an enormous margin), it would also challenge the computing market to step-up their display densities. One of the reasons pixel density matters less on laptops and desktops is you tend to sit further away from the screen, making it very difficult to see individual pixels. With devices like phones and tablets, a higher pixel-per-inch measurement means a more pleasant user experience, because they are being used closer to your face.

I can only imagine how great a retina display iPad would look. Simply put an iPhone 3GS next to an iPhone 4 to see the stark difference. However, it would take quite an engineering feat to pull it off. Take a look at some of Apple’s newest products with the PPI equated based on screen size and resolution:

The iPhone 4 leads the pack by a long shot, but even if the iPad 2 has double the resolution (quadrupling pixels – 2048×1536) the PPI would equal 263.92, still just under the 300 threshold used to distinguish a retina display. This would still make for a gorgeous tablet computer and help in two other key areas as well.

The first is app upgrades; doubling the resolution (as done with the iPhone) makes it much easier for developers to upgrade their apps. The second is Apple’s interest in selling magazines and newspapers on the iPad. A high-res screen, coupled with the iPad’s unique user interface, would make magazines and newspapers really come to life.

In the end, I don’t believe Apple can achieve a retina display on the iPad by exceeding 300 PPI, at least not in 2011. They may be able to achieve a doubling from the current resolution, but even that would take quite the processor and graphics upgrade (considering its about half the pixels as the 27-inch iMac). Either way, Apple is sure to surprise us in some manner in the coming months, and remind us why they design the best computing products today.

Similar Posts

  • Apple Stock at $668.80

    I just happened to check my stock portfolio to look at the (very) small amount of Apple stock that I own. Just so…

  • The Macintosh Community

    One of the benifits of working here is meeting other long-standing members of the Macintosh community. Today I had a great phone conversation…

  • Jim & Jaime's New Rides

    Here’s some nifty pictures of Jim’s new scooter. It’s so cool, I was actually thinking about getting one of these myself instead of…

  • Fine Art and the iPad

    British artist David Hockney, known for his contributions to the Pop Art movement of the 1960’s has found a new medium for creating as well as displaying his creations: the Apple iPad. Hockney, aged 73, began making doodles on his iPhone in 2008 using the application Brushes http://www.brushesapp.com/ and began emailing them to a small group of friends. By the end of 2009 he had created around 1000 images, including a series of paintings of the rising sun that he made without leaving his bed. Hockney praised the convenience of using a mobile device to create art:

    “It’s always there in my pocket, there’s no thrashing about, scrambling for the right color. One can set to work immediately, there’s this wonderful impromptu quality, this freshness, to the activity; and when it’s over, best of all, there’s no mess, no clean-up. You just turn off the machine. Or, even better, you hit Send, and your little cohort of friends around the world gets to experience a similar immediacy. There’s something, finally, very intimate about the whole process.”

    With the release of the iPad this year the artist was provided with a larger canvas to work on, which he says “takes it to a new level.” The iPad’s 9.7 inch screen allowed Hockney to create even more intricate paintings. The culmination of his experiments in this new medium is his current exhibition in Paris called Fleurs Fraiches (Fresh Flowers). http://www.fondation-pb-ysl.net/fr/Accueil-Fondation-Pierre-Berge-Yves-Saint-Laurent-471.html Perhaps the most interesting thing about this show is that the images were not only created on the iPhone and iPad, but they are being displayed on them as well. This allows the viewers to see the images as the artist intended, rather than rendering them onto paper or using a television or projector. Hockney also uses the iPad to periodically change the images displayed, allowing him to refresh the flowers.

    Another element of this story that I love is how Hockney carries his iPad around. His coats already had large pockets on the inside that he formerly used to carry drawing pads around. These have been repurposed to carry around his new favorite drawing tool: the Apple iPad.

    Come into one of our retail locations http://www.smalldog.com/retail and give the iPad a test run. Maybe you can be the next Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, or David Hockney!