There has been a lot of talk regarding whether Apple will increase the screen size for the next iPhone; 4" being the most touted option but sizes all the way up to 4.7" have been rumoured.
However, achieving this increase presents a number of problems;
- Keeping the same resolution on a larger screen will decrease the DPI to 288, below Apple's Retina threshold of 300 (Not impossible, but would be difficult for Apple marketing wise)
- Doubling the resolution to 1920 x 1280 would increase the DPI to an absurd 576, and would be overkill on such a small screen (though it would likely be the easiest option to develop for)
- Altering the aspect ratio (as demonstrated by The Verge yesterday) offers a solution, but may necessitate the use of black bars as a work-around (very un-Apple like)
One possible solution that I wanted to run-by everyone is to use a new resolution of 1440 x 960 for the next iPhone - exactly 3 times the resolution of the original iPhone. In other words, there would be 9 pixels on the new iPhone for each pixel on the original model, compared to 4 pixels on the 4/4S.
So just what are the advantages of using this new resolution?
For starters, 1440 x 960 at 4" would give a DPI of 432, still well above the 300 threshold (though not as crazy as 576 created by doubling the current 960 x 640 resolution). Better yet, it would allow for screens larger than 4" to maintain Retina status; 4.3" would be 402, 4.7 would be 368, even 5.3 (the same as the Galaxy Note) would be 326, all above the magic 300 mark. It would even allow for the current aspect ration to remain the same.
But what of fragmentation I hear you say?
While it's true that current Retina updated apps couldn't be displayed without some kind of scaling, it would allow for the older versions of apps (480 x 320) to be displayed natively, hence the reason for tripling the original resolution. This would serve as a stop-gap measure to enable existing apps to work on the new screen until developers could update them for the new resolution.
So what do you think? Is what I suggested a viable solution in enabling the screen to be enlarged without any significant drawbacks, or is it technically unfeasable (a question probably aimed more at developers themselves).
Please note this isn't so much a debate on whether Apple should increase the screen size, but rather how they could go about it.
However, achieving this increase presents a number of problems;
- Keeping the same resolution on a larger screen will decrease the DPI to 288, below Apple's Retina threshold of 300 (Not impossible, but would be difficult for Apple marketing wise)
- Doubling the resolution to 1920 x 1280 would increase the DPI to an absurd 576, and would be overkill on such a small screen (though it would likely be the easiest option to develop for)
- Altering the aspect ratio (as demonstrated by The Verge yesterday) offers a solution, but may necessitate the use of black bars as a work-around (very un-Apple like)
One possible solution that I wanted to run-by everyone is to use a new resolution of 1440 x 960 for the next iPhone - exactly 3 times the resolution of the original iPhone. In other words, there would be 9 pixels on the new iPhone for each pixel on the original model, compared to 4 pixels on the 4/4S.
So just what are the advantages of using this new resolution?
For starters, 1440 x 960 at 4" would give a DPI of 432, still well above the 300 threshold (though not as crazy as 576 created by doubling the current 960 x 640 resolution). Better yet, it would allow for screens larger than 4" to maintain Retina status; 4.3" would be 402, 4.7 would be 368, even 5.3 (the same as the Galaxy Note) would be 326, all above the magic 300 mark. It would even allow for the current aspect ration to remain the same.
But what of fragmentation I hear you say?
While it's true that current Retina updated apps couldn't be displayed without some kind of scaling, it would allow for the older versions of apps (480 x 320) to be displayed natively, hence the reason for tripling the original resolution. This would serve as a stop-gap measure to enable existing apps to work on the new screen until developers could update them for the new resolution.
So what do you think? Is what I suggested a viable solution in enabling the screen to be enlarged without any significant drawbacks, or is it technically unfeasable (a question probably aimed more at developers themselves).
Please note this isn't so much a debate on whether Apple should increase the screen size, but rather how they could go about it.
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