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I think it depends what the will be the standard in 2019. If everybody offers 3x displays for their better phones Apple cannot offer 2x anymore....

And if everyone is putting 6-8GB of RAM into their high end phones will apple do that as well?
 
And if everyone is putting 6-8GB of RAM into their high end phones will apple do that as well?

That is another thing. You cannot compare the RAM demand of Android phones with iPhones but you can compare the displays directly....
 
That is another thing. You cannot compare the RAM demand of Android phones with iPhones but you can compare the displays directly....

Still, for the purpose of the XR, 326ppi is sufficient. And there's much more to compare on the displays than pixel density.
 
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But maybe there are other practical reasons, anyone have any ideas?
Apple only ever offered three kinds of pixel density.

@1x Non-Retina
@2x Retina
@3x Super Retina

When you divide the pixel count of the Xs Max by 9 and multiply the result by 4, then you end up with pixels of the Xr. Both phones show the same amount of screen content, one in Retina the other in Super Retina resolution.

For a moment let’s ignore the different subpixel situation of LCD and OLED displays. Either 2x2 = 4 pixels equal 1 point or 3x3 = 9 pixels equal 1 point.
 
Apple only ever offered three kinds of pixel density.

@1x Non-Retina
@2x Retina
@3x Super Retina

When you divide the pixel count of the Xs Max by 9 and multiply the result by 4, then you end up with pixels of the Xr. Both phones show the same amount of screen content, one in Retina the other in Super Retina resolution.

For a moment let’s ignore the different subpixel situation of LCD and OLED displays. Either 2x2 = 4 pixels equal 1 point or 3x3 = 9 pixels equal 1 point.

Well, the Plus size iPhones were a bit odd as the UI was rendered @3x but then downsampled as the physical display wasn't actually 3x.

https://www.paintcodeapp.com/news/ultimate-guide-to-iphone-resolutions
 
I read an article on reddit about Apple and the resolution and PPI differences between their LCD and OLED displays, unfortunately I can't find the article right now, I'll keep looking.

Basically - Because blue OLEDs have half the life span of the other colors (red & green), they have to run them at half luminosity to get the same life expectancy. Because of this, OLED manufacturers up the resolution to include double the blue OLEDs to balance the light. That is why all OLED screens are super high PPI, in the 400-500 range. The negative of this is OLED screen do require more power because of the higher number of pixels to drive.

When Apple developed the Retina display requirements back in 2010, they determined that anything over 300ppi is indistinguishable to the human eye from printed paper, that is why Apple choose to double the original iPhone ppi to 326. This originally simplified their UI because they only had to double everything to make all the UI things stay the same size on the screen.

Apple kept that ppi for all their entry phones, through to the iPhone 8. No one had a problem with that. Because they decided not to put an OLED in the XR, they were not restricted to the higher PPI needed with OLED to balance the colors. They kept the 326ppi and this came with the benefit of better battery life.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

I do not think Apple kept the PPI from the iPhone 8 to the XR because they want to up sell people in the future, I think they feel the resolution is adequate for the average user, who will not notice or does not care about specs, but about the experience.

If OLED manufacturers can ever get the blue OLED to have the same life expectancy as the other colors, I wouldn't be surprised to see OLED ppi come down, while staying above the 300ppi "retina" threshold, with the benefit of extended battery life. This would be the best of both worlds.
 
I read an article on reddit about Apple and the resolution and PPI differences between their LCD and OLED displays, unfortunately I can't find the article right now, I'll keep looking.

Basically - Because blue OLEDs have half the life span of the other colors (red & green), they have to run them at half luminosity to get the same life expectancy. Because of this, OLED manufacturers up the resolution to include double the blue OLEDs to balance the light. That is why all OLED screens are super high PPI, in the 400-500 range. The negative of this is OLED screen do require more power because of the higher number of pixels to drive.

When Apple developed the Retina display requirements back in 2010, they determined that anything over 300ppi is indistinguishable to the human eye from printed paper, that is why Apple choose to double the original iPhone ppi to 326. This originally simplified their UI because they only had to double everything to make all the UI things stay the same size on the screen.

Apple kept that ppi for all their entry phones, through to the iPhone 8. No one had a problem with that. Because they decided not to put an OLED in the XR, they were not restricted to the higher PPI needed with OLED to balance the colors. They kept the 326ppi and this came with the benefit of better battery life.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

I do not think Apple kept the PPI from the iPhone 8 to the XR because they want to up sell people in the future, I think they feel the resolution is adequate for the average user, who will not notice or does not care about specs, but about the experience.

If OLED manufacturers can ever get the blue OLED to have the same life expectancy as the other colors, I wouldn't be surprised to see OLED ppi come down, while staying above the 300ppi "retina" threshold, with the benefit of extended battery life. This would be the best of both worlds.

The "best of both worlds" in the future might be the upcoming MicroLED technology. Hope that will end this useless resolution discussion....
 
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The "best of both worlds" in the future might be the upcoming MicroLED technology. Hope that will end this useless resolution discussion....

Assuredly, Micro LED is coming. The benefits are massive, and I mean significantly brighter over OLED, which has considerably Less power draw over OLED, which results extended battery life, and of course higher resolution with improved color gamut. The biggest hurdle for Apple, is to make sure that they actually have the necessary suppliers lined up to implement micro LED, which I suspect the Apple Watch might receive it first, similarly to how OLED was the first to debut on the Apple Watch before the iPhone.
 
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There are still other differences though.

No 3D Touch
No Object detection in portrait mode
No Telephoto camera lens
No OLED Display
Inferior water resistance

I don’t think they needed to reduce the resolution size in order to sell more iPhone XS and XS Max devices. But it’s all about cost and savings I guess.

1. According to reports, apple will get rid of 3D touch from all iPhone models in the future, given the workaround for 3D touch gestures using haptic touch

2. Object detection in portrait mode is software. I'm sure Apple have implemented it. They didn't release it on the XR this year because they have to show some improvements in 2019. Also, it would've put the XR on par with the XS.

3. Agreed, no telephoto lens, but I believe 95% of the times people use the telephoto just for portraits.

4. Both OLEDs and LCDs have their pros and cons. OLED has deeper blacks and better contrast ratio, and the display can be cut into various shapes. But OLEDs suffer from scree burn-in, color shift and consumes more power. LCDs don't have a contrast ratio as good, and require backlights, making the display thicker. But LCD is a very mature display technology, consumes less power and no color shift or screen burn-in

5. Yes it's IP67 vs IP68, but in real world use, I don't think it matters much.
 
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Because of this, OLED manufacturers up the resolution to include double the blue OLEDs to balance the light.
You mean, green?

I wouldn't be surprised to see OLED ppi come down, while staying above the 300ppi "retina" threshold, with the benefit of extended battery life. This would be the best of both worlds.
You have to differentiate backlight tech and (sub)pixel arrangement to clarify. If "OLED" display goes down in pixel density, sharpness would become a problem with Pentile screens and they'd have to switch to RGB?

See: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-mean-anything.2149142/page-10#post-26714684
 
There are a lot of reasons cynical and otherwise posted in here and there's probably a bit of truth to all of them.

More profit
2x pixel density means a native screen
the new LCD was difficult to make due to curves
Up sell next year
It's good enough
better battery life
etc....

I'm sure that some of these carried more weight as well. But I'd say it was more complex than just picking one and saying that's the reason.
 
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There are a lot of reasons cynical and otherwise posted in here and there's probably a bit of truth to all of them.

More profit
2x pixel density means a native screen
the new LCD was difficult to make due to curves
Up sell next year
It's good enough
better battery life
etc....

I'm sure that some of these carried more weight as well. But I'd say it was more complex than just picking one and saying that's the reason.

I think you nailed all the reasons. Although technically the same, I would change More profit to much cheaper to produce as more as a thought process for Apple.
When you have 5 year old screen tech, the manufacturing issues plummet.
Higher yield means you make more and sell more.
 
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There are a lot of reasons cynical and otherwise posted in here and there's probably a bit of truth to all of them.

More profit
2x pixel density means a native screen
the new LCD was difficult to make due to curves
Up sell next year
It's good enough
better battery life
etc....

I'm sure that some of these carried more weight as well. But I'd say it was more complex than just picking one and saying that's the reason.

Totally agree. Hard to imagine why a premium offering, with a premium price in 2018/2019 would not have a 1080p display. But it does. And there are many good points offered here as to why.
 
The reason Apple do everything. Profit.

That really is all there is too it. Anyone coming from an X will see the screen, lack of 3D Touch and camera as a downgrade so if they want to upgrade they will go for the more expensive Xs or Max. Then if they do they’re more likely to shell out for the larger storage. So more money again.

Anyone coming from a 6/7/8 will see the bigger screen. More ram. And camera as an upgrade so they’ll think I’m not spending more on the Xs or Max. They will see the £50 bump to 128gb and think yeah I’ll do that. So again more money for Apple from people who think the Xs is too expensive.

I think if you’re looking at this from the perspective of a consumer who wants best bang for buck etc then you’re doing it wrong. Look at it from the perspective of a multi billion dollar company trying to gouge as much money as possible from the consumer.

I love owning Apple products but I’m under no illusion Apple gives a flying crap about me getting value for money. The only thing they care about is getting me to spend money. And as much of it as they possibly can. Once you actually realise that everything they do makes sense. And I’m not saying this as if I think it’s a negative. Of course they want to make money. I don’t have an issue with it obviously.
 
I think the XR got the "low res" screen to give it some growing room for improvement in the future. Also it's clear that they wanted to differentiate the XR from the other two more expensive phones by giving it a screen that was "not quite as good".

If the XR got at 1080p screen, the XS sales (and likely Max too) would tank.
 
You have to differentiate backlight tech and (sub)pixel arrangement to clarify. If "OLED" display goes down in pixel density, sharpness would become a problem with Pentile screens and they'd have to switch to RGB?

See: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-mean-anything.2149142/page-10#post-26714684

RGB stripe has always been preferred as PenTile relies on human psychophysics to work properly.

Most analysts predict OLED going back to RGB once OLED reliability issues are resolved.

upload_2018-12-6_11-6-55.png


Most people don't seem to understand a 400 PPI OLED panel is needed to match the sharpness of a 300 PPI LCD panel. The roadmap above should help explain why a PPI increase is only necessary with OLED.
 
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I think the XR got the "low res" screen to give it some growing room for improvement in the future. Also it's clear that they wanted to differentiate the XR from the other two more expensive phones by giving it a screen that was "not quite as good".

If the XR got at 1080p screen, the XS sales (and likely Max too) would tank.

The XR ‘Liquid Retina’ display is purely cost cutting, they had to, there is no other reason. OLED panels obviously cost more, which would directly affect the price of the XR. But more importantly, the XR display is perfectly suitable for the consumer, and I have to find a ‘Non-tech’ use who can tell me the difference between OLED and LCD, which to the untrained eye, they (Average consumers) can’t really tell them apart.
 
I do not think Apple kept the PPI from the iPhone 8 to the XR because they want to up sell people in the future, I think they feel the resolution is adequate for the average user, who will not notice or does not care about specs, but about the experience.

Coming from an 8 plus, it's very obvious the text isn't as sharp on the XR.

So much so I won't be upgrading. And actually glad I upgraded last year and didn't wait for this.
 
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Coming from an 8 plus, it's very obvious the text isn't as sharp on the XR.

So much so I won't be upgrading. And actually glad I upgraded last year and didn't wait for this.

It’s never a good idea to upgrade tech every year for many reasons. I had my iPhone 6 for 4 years before upgrading to the Xr. The 6 definitely earned it’s money.....
 
I mean, the phone is bigger than the 8 plus so I find it fairly odd that it doesn’t support at least 1080p. I have two possible reasons for this. Potentially to keep the cost down? Or to make the iPhone XR 2 look like a bigger upgrade.

But maybe there are other practical reasons, anyone have any ideas?
Why do you want it to be 1080p? Just because it's higher number? There's a blind test done between the XR and another phone with 1080p display and people chose the XR as being better despite the lower resolution.
 
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To get people who care and CAN tell the difference like us to pony up and get the iphone xs :/ but I'm sorry I cannot afford to pay 1150 eur for a phone apple, and no you're not gonna force me to sign up for payments, I've gotten my phones unlocked since 14 years or so... here in germany the pixel 3 costs 645 eur , so that's what I'll be getting.

Can't believe how many people here defends apple greedy decision, ok you could argue about not needing an qhd panel on a lcd screen of this size, but defending a 720p on a 6" inch screen is bonkers.
 
Why do you want it to be 1080p? Just because it's higher number? There's a blind test done between the XR and another phone with 1080p display and people chose the XR as being better despite the lower resolution.

Yes with the Pocophone F1. You did see that the comparison was just showing the same film on both phones and not a comparison on text clarity? The ppi difference doesn't so much show on films, but it sure does on text. That's why I returned my Xr and got a 8 Plus.
 
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Yes with the Pocophone F1. You did see that the comparison was just showing the same film on both phones and not a comparison on text clarity? The ppi difference doesn't so much show on films, but it sure does on text. That's why I returned my Xr and got a 8 Plus.

Do not have any problems with text on my Xr. It is totally sharp without visible pixels like with all my iPhones before (without the first one and the 3gs). Don’t need any better...
 
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Do not have any problems with text on my Xr. It is totally sharp without visible pixels like with all my iPhones before (without the first one and the 3gs). Don’t need any better...

It's good to not know what you are missing.

Don't spend extended time with an 8 plus. :)
 
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