Mass Production of Retina Displays for iPad Mini Expected to Start in June or July

[SockRolid]

Maintaining consistent resolution across the iPad lineup allows developers to target a single screen size with their apps, simplifying their work.

And for that (among many other things), iOS developers around the world are eternally grateful.

 

[SuperBunn]

That could mean many things. Perhaps a faster variant of the A5 or a better graphic subsystem to help things along. The package should be greater than the sum of its part - an aspect of Apple we tend to take for granted.

Very true.

 

[Lancer]

For me it will come down to cost and whether Apple keeps the current Mini as a 'cheap' model.

 

[macs4nw]

.....the Retina iPad mini will adopt the same 2048 x 1536 resolution seen on the full-size iPad's Retina display, albeit at a higher pixel density to fit the iPad mini's smaller physical size.....
Article Link: Mass Production of Retina Displays for iPad Mini Expected to Start in June or July

So it could have even greater perceived sharpness than the full-sized iPad?......sweeet. If they can maintain or even reduce it's current weight, and keep battery life at an acceptable level, it'll be almost purrrfect.

Sign us up for two, please.

 

[fsck-y dingo]

i think it was voltron who coined the term, or was it voltaire...beats me

 

[needfx]

yup, that clears it, it was Voltron

 

[XboxMySocks]

With the mini going to match the resolution of the bigger iPad; think we might see another resolution increase on the bigger one?

Otherwise...why even get the big iPad? It's more expensive and same screen resolution and less pixel density.

Lmao. For some reason I thought 'resolution' meant screen size and I was like dude wtf then it'd be a normal iPad.

 

[341328]

Bigger is better (sometimes)

With the mini going to match the resolution of the bigger iPad; think we might see another resolution increase on the bigger one?

Otherwise...why even get the big iPad? It's more expensive and same screen resolution and less pixel density.

Yeah, and why buy a 60 inch TV when you can buy a 46 inch with same resolution? Because people like BIGGER!

 

[cclloyd]

I think it was Voltron who coined the term, or was it Voltaire...Beats me

I just copied/pasted from dictionary.com

 

[needfx]

I just copied/pasted from dictionary.com

just me being silly and scoring a F-

 

[Mackan]

Do you really believe that or are you just being inflammatory? Just about everything Apple (and most tech companies) introduce is as advanced for its time as it can be. It's nonsensical to look back and say the best today should have been out two years ago, or say today's best should just magically be oh so much better.

Well, you can continue to believe that if you want. For others, it's fairly obvious Apple is taking the opportunity whenever they can to only give you 'just about enough' in a product. Whenever they launch a new product, they look years ahead on what incremental upgrades they can do on it. You generalize this to 'most tech companies', but I can tell you that Apple is the master of them all, leading the way.

For the iPad mini, they simply took the opportunity to trim it down as much as they can, since it is a new product. How could you possibly not see that? The process has been obvious for the last 6 years with iOS devices.

Naive people believe that there's always a good reason why Apple didn't include something in a product, due to technological constraints or costs. That's simply not the whole story.

 

[topper24hours]

My main questions are:

How much (if at all) thicker and heavier will it be than my current ipad mini

and how much will it cost.

I know a lot of people will suggest that it will come in at the same price points as the current mini, but I'm not so sure.

It will def be the same price (see price history for every new gen of iPod, iPad, and iPhone). If not, they would suddenly be switching to a new pricing strategy as a company, after using the last strategy successfully for over a decade. Now, it is entirely possible that the $329 price was chosen for this specific reason, rather than the $249-$299 price that had been bandied about. That makes sense, people thought its high margins were somehow greed fueled, but they could have been forward thinking enough to realize that the future retina version would have a loftier expense & built it into the current price.

 

[topper24hours]

Well, you can continue to believe that if you want. For others, it's fairly obvious Apple is taking the opportunity whenever they can to only give you 'just about enough' in a product. Whenever they launch a new product, they look years ahead on what incremental upgrades they can do on it. You generalize this to 'most tech companies', but I can tell you that Apple is the master of them all, leading the way.

For the iPad mini, they simply took the opportunity to trim it down as much as they can, since it is a new product. How could you possibly not see that? The process has been obvious for the last 6 years with iOS devices.

Naive people believe that there's always a good reason why Apple didn't include something in a product, due to technological constraints or costs. That's simply not the whole story.

Wow. Conspiracy theory much?

 

[akdj]

LG make those crappy piss yellow LCD panels for the iMac, LG's screens are not as good quality as Samsung or Sharp / JapanLCD, so would not touch any LG panel device no matter what. Only Samsung / Sharp / JapanLCD for me thanks

Do you have ANY clue how many LCD/LED panels LG makes for other OEMs? Companies like NEC, Eizo, Sony and Pioneer...Boeing and Lockheed Martin (flight and weapon displays), the list could literally fill a small book. There aren't that many actual panel manufacturers. LG is one of the big dogs. Just because there were IR issues on what turned out to be an LG panel on a state of the art IPS panel in the rMBP does not a bad manufacturer make

Gimme a break. If Apple can put a retina screen on the iPhone with good battery life, they certainly can manage to do it with the mini.

Keep in mind...the iPhone is twice the cost of the iPad mini...the mini has more than twice (almost four times) the display surface area of the iPhone. And the iPhone, in intensive usage situations, is lucky to get four or five hours of real, true on screen time. The iPad doubles that. As well, you'll have to double the pixels of the display (again, over double the resolution of the iPhone) and fortify that with a chip SoC w/GPU to perform this task. It's not as easy as you make it out to be. Especially if you want to maintain the form factor, weight and battery performance

Actually, Apple would never just screw over first generation owners. They would screw over both first, second and third generation owners of any Apple product.

Remember, they might go retina soon, but they will still continue use an older CPU, bad camera, low RAM, etc, for the next revisions to come. So, it will take a couple of generations for it to be what it should have been in the first place. The money milking machine at its finest.

Yet it's the most popular selling device on the market. With the most 'fluent' experience UI-wise and the largest app development community. The 'old' camera you're talking about is the number one camera used on Flikr and literally changed mobile phone photography (iPhone 4 cam that's on the current mini). The SoC used in the mini isn't 'old' by any standard. It's an updated A5 @ 32nm. Not the same as the original iPad 2 or iPhone 4. It's actually about 18 months old and has the power efficiency and GPU horsepower to run the mini's display as well as EVERY SINGLE app offered today in the App Store. It's performance equivalent in benchmarking and every day use is almost in parity with the iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPhone 4S. iOS doesn't need the RAM that Android does to fluently function in the UI. Does more help? Yep! I've got an iPad 4 along with my mini and its able to hold a bit more in cache when surfing multiple web pages. Other than that...it's hardly a noticeable 'issue' right now. Today. Nor WILL it be in the next 18-24 months realistically. The development community would be silly to abandon the A5 platform functionality...seeing as how there are dozens of millions of them on the market right now!

This is the best news i have read for ages, i log on here every day hoping to read some strong rumours on the mini retina. Looks like it's finally coming now, but still another 5 months or so to wait.

I think once the mini goes retina the sales figures will be absolutely massive for apple, i think there's millions just waiting for it to go retina just like me. The screen on the current mini just isn't good enough for the price they charge for it.

Interesting, considering Apple had the best iPad sales quarter in history the final quarter of 2012 (incidentally the same quarter the mini was released). 11.x million-->19.x million. They weren't able to meet production 'demand' on the mini for almost two full months!

Obviously 'millions' disagree with your assertion.

Well, you can continue to believe that if you want. For others, it's fairly obvious Apple is taking the opportunity whenever they can to only give you 'just about enough' in a product. Whenever they launch a new product, they look years ahead on what incremental upgrades they can do on it. You generalize this to 'most tech companies', but I can tell you that Apple is the master of them all, leading the way.

For the iPad mini, they simply took the opportunity to trim it down as much as they can, since it is a new product. How could you possibly not see that? The process has been obvious for the last 6 years with iOS devices.

Naive people believe that there's always a good reason why Apple didn't include something in a product, due to technological constraints or costs. That's simply not the whole story.

It's always funny to read conspiracy theorists ideas and perceptions of reality. Especially considering Apple was the first to the maket place with a 'true' consumer tablet. The first to the market with a 'true' high resolution display on said tablet, boasts the biggest, best and most supported application development community in the history of software development....single handedly revolutionized the entire cell phone industry (and the idea of what a SMART phone should be)---not to mention, led the pack on killing the point and shoot camera industry. Thunderbolt. Retina displays. App stores. GPS/music/videos/magazines/the web and Facebook....your email and phone, a link to instant news and instantaneous productivity 'in your pocket' (and All Aggregated into a single device)....& to the market FIRST. Yet they're 'holding back'. Lol. Again, always worth the chuckle I guess.

Apple releases products and features when they're ready. How lame would the 4s been with LTE and two hours of battery life like that era of Android phones? NFC? It's not ubiquitous yet. Bigger displays, more powerful CPU and GPU? Why??? They sell more iPhones every time they release one than ANY other company in any other industry of electronics. No other manufacturer can match their success on an individual unit level. No one is 'waiting' for anything....other than the 'uber' geeks that most of us are. We are the minority.

J

 

[igazza]

I dont mind the screen i just want more power and better graphics, my mini has become very sluggish

 

[iSteve-O]

About time. iPad 2 Mini was a joke.

 

[mrmarts]

If the ipad mini 2 gets a retina display and a spec bump count me in, I see the mini far more sexier and easy to use in terms of weight and size. The full sized iPad is like carrying a laptop based on my experiences with my previous iPad 3, whilst I prefer to stick to my macbook instead of a overgrown ipad.

 

[Mackan]

Wow. Conspiracy theory much?

Yep. I know it is way over your head. Perhaps some leaks from Apples business meetings when it comes to product launches and upgrades will enlighten people.

 

[ohbrilliance]

Should I get the iPad classic or wait for the iPad mini with retina display?

Yes.

 

[Radiating]

Originally Posted by Radiating
You don't seem to have a rational though process there. More specifically the logic leap you made there is so poorly thought out it's mind boggling.

LG & Samsung both make some of the best displays in the world. The only reason why LG displays had issues is because LG in a cost cutting measure used sub-standard materials with low ionic purity to make their retina displays. Apple quickly caught the issue and now LG displays are actually better than Samsung ones.

While cost cutting resulting in huge embarassment is a black mark against LG, they are more than capable of making a top notch product.

LG and Samsung make the best displays in the world? And you are calling my thought process mind boggling? What a irony!

But.. enough said.

Wow, how thick do you have to be? You obviously know nothing about display manufacturing.

There are 3 primary companies in the world that make high performance LCD displays.

LG, Samsung, and Sharp.

Guess which are the leaders and which one is the underdog. Hint: Sharp trails the pack in innovation and has constant issues with going bankrupt and the lowest share of the sector.

Bought a Sony? Guess what. Your display is a Sharp or a Samsung.

Bought an Acer computer? Guess what. Your display is a Sharp LG or Samsung.

Bought a Dell monitor? Guess what. Samsung LG or Sharp.

If you bought a high performance display, it was made by Sharp LG or Samsung. Period.

So calling out LG for being "an inferior quality product" is like calling out VW group, manufacturers of Audi, Lamborgini, Bugatti etc for being "inferior quality" as an industrial entity. It's beyond laughable.

You literally called out one of the top two companies as being inferior.

Lets even look at this from another perspective:

Here's a list of the main LCD manufacturers:

Samsung
LG
Sharp

Here are your other choice when it comes to smaller/lower quality LDC displays, ie those for digital cameras and printers:

Chi Mei Optoelectronics
AU Optronics
Chunghwa Picture Tubes
Wistron Optronics
IPS Alpha Technology
Delta Electronics
TPV Technology Limited
Toshiba Mobile Display Company
Hitachi Displays

These companies make up 99% of LCD manufacturing.

LG & Samsung alone make up 87.5% of high performance LCD manufacturing. So yes LG and Samsung "make some of the best displays in the world", in fact between them they make 87.5% of the best displays in the world.

 

[tien1504]

This just leaves me nonplussed. I'm still living with my original iPad 2 and loving it, and I hardly notice the difference between my 3GS screen and the 4S.

Sure 'retina' would be better for text, but is that all Apple has this year? Adding 'retina' to old things?

Retina display is much better if the app you use support it.
I'm using iPad 2, iPod 5 and I see a big different between them. I will consider to buy a iPad mini retina display this year. Yeah!

 

[rcappo]

I won't consider the iPad mini until it comes with a retina display. The current one just doesn't have the detail that I am looking for.

 

[MacGuru100]

nobody here gets it, you can MAKE a mini with a retina, but battery life at current size would be about 50 mins.


Tech increases rapidly in time, but battery tech DOES NOT, it creeeeeps.


Currently, regardless of this news, there is NO WAY to make a ipad mini with retina WITHOUT making it VERY THICK for a larger battery.

Even the new low power processors help little in this arena.

Expect either a VERY THICK ipad mini, or one with insanely low battery life


Ipad MINI RETINA cannot currently be made, regardless of this "NEWS"

----------

Well, you can continue to believe that if you want. For others, it's fairly obvious Apple is taking the opportunity whenever they can to only give you 'just about enough' in a product. Whenever they launch a new product, they look years ahead on what incremental upgrades they can do on it. You generalize this to 'most tech companies', but I can tell you that Apple is the master of them all, leading the way.

For the iPad mini, they simply took the opportunity to trim it down as much as they can, since it is a new product. How could you possibly not see that? The process has been obvious for the last 6 years with iOS devices.

Naive people believe that there's always a good reason why Apple didn't include something in a product, due to technological constraints or costs. That's simply not the whole story.

This insane claim CONFUSES technology with BATTERY TECHNOLOGY......2 diff things.


I can stick a retina display on a MINI easy.....but battery life would be 50 mins or LESS.


Most unintelligent people confuse TECH and BATTERY TECH as one thing


tech improves RAPIDLY


battery tech DOES NOT........its slow as hell with NO revolutionary "super battery" anywhere in sight.

 

[Z3man]

Interesting, considering Apple had the best iPad sales quarter in history the final quarter of 2012 (incidentally the same quarter the mini was released). 11.x million-->19.x million. They weren't able to meet production 'demand' on the mini for almost two full months!

Obviously 'millions' disagree with your assertion.

I do wish you would make sense.

 

[MacGuru100]

I won't consider the iPad mini until it comes with a retina display. The current one just doesn't have the detail that I am looking for.

that premise is insane, ive heard it a million times.


Its a spoiled person premise "waaaah", it doesnt have 10 million pixels, therefore its crap.

Purely insane. The Mini is perfect the way it is.

Ive got a RETINA IPAD 4 , but the mini is perfectly fine.

RETINA macbook pros are sloooooooow, overheating, and people are PISSED .