New iPhone (6th Generation) Resolution Question

[neilpryde23]

Hey guys (and gals),

I was recently explaining to my mom about what retina display was and the problem about making the screen bigger and she suggested an idea that I couldn't seem to find a flaw with.

What if they were to make the resolution triple that of the original iPhone on a 4 - 4.3 inch screen, keeping the 3:2 aspect ratio? So instead of 960x640 resolution on a 3.5" screen for "Retina Display", it would have a resolution of 1440 x 960, preserving the 3:2 aspect ratio and keeping the pixel density well above 300 on a larger screen while also making it easy to scale from the original iPhone Apps. Obviously that is a really high resolution already but recently with Sharp's IGZO panels, they were achieving pixel densities of up to 498 ppi!

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/1/3056490/sharp-caac-igzo-498-ppi-display-prototype

I haven't done out the math yet but they were able to make a 6.1 inch display with a resolution of 2560x1600 so wouldn't a 4 - 4.3 inch screen with 1440x960 also be possible? Then you would be scaling the original iPhone Apps by 3x's instead of 2x's that they did for the iPhone 4's retina display so 1 pixel on the original iPhone would be broken down into effectively 9 pixels on this new resolution.

I just had this conversation with my mom, who doesn't really understand tech that well, like 10 minutes ago but it seems to make sense right? If it doesn't make sense, I'd would like to hear the explanation why since I obviously haven't thought this who idea through and I'm sure I'm not as tech savy as others on this forum, which is why I come here lol.

 

[matttye]

They should just whack a 720p resolution on it and be done with it. Suits the 4.8" galaxy s3 fine, can easily read text when fully zoomed out

 

[PerfectDB]

I started a thread awhile back asking the same question, but it didn't get much attention unfortunately;

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1356895/

Given the leaks of the last few weeks, it's unlikely Apple would take this route, which is a shame as it would allow for screens larger than 4" to maintain retina status without altering aspect ratio or inducing fragmentation.

 

[Technarchy]

Keep in mind that the whole selling point of the retina display was the brain can't discern individual pixels over 300 pixels per inch on a phone held 12" from your face.

So there would be zero point in going with a greater pixel density. It would just eat GPU cycles.

The next consideration being if an HD display is even needed on a phone sized screen of 3.5" or even 4" when 300ppi is the break point, or is it just wasted system resources.

 

[neilpryde23]

Keep in mind that the whole selling point of the retina display was the brain can't discern individual pixels over 300 pixels per inch on a phone held 12" from your face.

So there would be zero point in going with a greater pixel density. It would just eat GPU cycles.

The next consideration being if an HD display is even needed on a phone sized screen of 3.5" or even 4" when 300ppi is the break point, or is it just wasted system resources.

I understand what you're saying but I meant this as a way to prevent fragmentation of the iPhone if it were to get a larger screen since keeping it at the same resolution on a 4 inch screen apparently drops the PPI below 300 so it would no longer be classified as retina and increasing the resolution to keep it at > 300 PPI would result in fragmentation or a black border with existing apps. This resolution would allow for easy scaling for developers.

Just a thought and I didn't know if there would be a problem with having this setup. Also, apparently IGZO panels from sharp offer ~90% reduction in power consumption, according to a Macrumors article so perhaps the extra battery required to push those pixels would be somewhat offset by the power savings from the screen.

 

[Technarchy]

There is no fragmentation if apple does a taller 1136x640 resolution on a 4" display. Old apps will letterbox or scale, and new apps will infinite scroll to match a 3.5" or 4" display.

Also, it's not a battery issue only, it's a system resources matter. Look at android, it's coded so damn bad and eats so many resources that you get that trademark android UI lag.

You don't want your UI and OS being a hinderence.