iPad Pro iPad Oled — lower subpixel density = lower “actual resolution”

[TBoneMac]

Hello, I was wondering,

Does anyone know if last years iPad OLED has a RGB subpixel layout or does it have a more “standard” OLED subpixel layout?

Why does this matter? It matters because if it doesn’t have a standard layout that includes all three colors (red green and blue), then that means that it’s “actual resolution”/“clarity” is going to be lower than an iPad that has the same resolution (in numbers) but has RGB layout of subpixels.

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I’ll explain it more just in case you’d like to know more.

So, lots of OLED screens use subpixel arrangements more like this two “pixels” = Red Green and Blue Green, (or something like that) — sometimes it’s Green and then 1half blue and 1half red.

Either way, the point is that what this means to the end product is that you require a higher resolution in order to get an equal amount of subpixels as a standard RGB layout screen (like LCD screens).

This is why the iPhone X increased the resolution from ~300ppi (pixels per inch) to ~450ppi, because you need 33% more resolution to make up for the lower subpixel count. If Apple had left the iPhone X resolution the same as the iPhone 8 at around ~300ppi then the iPhone 8 would have had a clearer (better looking) screen, minus the perfect blacks you get from OLED technology.

If memory serves, I believe Apple actually increased the resolution a tad more than they needed to (which make the iPhone X just a bit crisper than the iPhone 8)

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So my question is, does the OLED iPad have a higher resolution than the mini-led iPad OR does it have a more standard “RGB” subpixel layout? Because if it has neither of these, then the screen would technically be less clear than the older iPads.

THANKS MACRUMOR FAMILY!

 

[GMShadow]

Did you forget asking this previously? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2024-ipad-pro-subpixel-layout-question.2429002/

Or the dozens of other comments where you've stated you think the panel is lower quality?

 

[Falhófnir]

The reason the iPhone OLEDs look so good goes beyond just a very high resolution, OLEDs can still have the grainy appearance at 400+ ppi if too much of the dark substrate is allowed to show through the illuminated sub pixels. With the first OLED iPhone X, Apple reportedly focused on maximising the 'fill factor' of the sub pixels to minimise the amount of negative space that showed through between the sub pixels. I think that was particularly achieved by having larger, squarer green sub pixels - usually, as they're doubled up on PenTile panels, most make them very small and quite round which allows a lot of substrate to show through. All OLED iPhones I've seen have looked great, so I assume they have carried this characteristic through all of their phone panels since.

Looks like with the iPad they avoided PenTile altogether (likely due to the lower overall pixel density) and went with a novel RGB layout. I haven't yet seen them in person to make a judgment, but I hope Apple applied just as much attention to detail for the iPad in getting the best possible display panels. OLED is a good tech due to the true HDR capability and very fast response times, but it does have its own quirks which need to be mitigated for.