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Will iPhone5 lose retina status without resolution change?

Y

yalag

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Original poster
Nov 18, 2007
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So now that the iPhone 5 has been shown to have a longer body, I want to know if it will keep the retina status if Apple chooses to keep the same resolution. Can someone crunch the numbers? I'm not exactly sure how to do the calculation :confused::confused:

Thank you!
 
retina is a marketing term and as long as apple still advertises it as having a retina display (which they will) then it will still have it's retina status. Apple owns retina display, if they want to sell a potato and say it has retina status then guess what? it has retina status!

what you want to know is will it still have an amazingly crisp, clear, and beautiful screen. yes it will.
 
Funkymonk said:
retina is a marketing term and as long as apple still advertises it as having a retina display (which they will) then it will still have it's retina status. Apple owns retina display, if they want to sell a potato and say it has retina status then guess what? it has retina status!

what you want to know is will it still have an amazingly crisp, clear, and beautiful screen. yes it will.
Click to expand...

No but to be fair, there's a certain pixel level you have to be at the same viewing distance before you can call yourself retina. So without a new resolution will the bigger screen still qualifies for that standard basically I'm wondering.
 
The thought to Retina is that, at a certain distance, your eyes can't differentiate the pixels.

The iPhone 4/4S has 326ppi (pixels per inch) and, once held roughly a foot from your face, the average person can't see the pixels.

The iPad 3 has only 264ppi, but, since you generally hold an iPad much further from your face, it doesn't have to be as high as a phone.


If they increased the size of the phone, but kept the resolution the same, the ppi would drop... but... they'd also simply say that, because it's now larger, you'll be holding it further away and can no longer see the pixels.... even at a lower ppi.


Realize that standard street billboards would also likely be considered 'Retina' because of the extreme distance you view them at... and they typically are printed between 10-30ppi.
 
yalag said:
So now that the iPhone 5 has been shown to have a longer body, I want to know if it will keep the retina status if Apple chooses to keep the same resolution. Can someone crunch the numbers? I'm not exactly sure how to do the calculation :confused::confused:

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Apple can't change the aspect ratio without changing the resolution. Here are the crunched numbers.;)

iPhone 4S 960x640 and aspect ratio is 940/640 = 1.47 (1.5) or 3x2
New iPhone (theory) 1140x640 and aspect ratio is 1140/640 = 1.78 or 16x9

In order to keep the resolution the same and increase the screen size Apple would have to stick with a 1.5 aspect ratio.

Also as others have said Retina is an Apple marketing term and carries no legal or technical definition. So Apple could call anything it wants a Retina.
 
No. Apple will call it retina regardless of the resolution. However, presuming the ppi doesn't change too much, it shouldn't matter.
 
yalag said:
So now that the iPhone 5 has been shown to have a longer body, I want to know if it will keep the retina status if Apple chooses to keep the same resolution. Can someone crunch the numbers? I'm not exactly sure how to do the calculation :confused::confused:

Thank you!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure if I invent a term I can use it however I want to, regardless of what happens.

"Hey buddy, did you see my new octographic shoes? They're the only ones with 8 mirrors on the sole!!!"

"Wow, check out the new version of the octographic shoes!! They now have 6 mirrors on the sole and 2 on the side!!"
 
yalag said:
And is 290 ppi still retina at the same viewing distance? Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I believe Jobs said it the inability to distinguish pixels on a smartphone was around that 300 PPI.

Of course at 326 the iPhone 4 met the "spec" with room to spare. A 4" iPhone is going to be at the lower end of this Retina spectrum but should look great.
 
nuckinfutz said:
I believe Jobs said it the inability to distinguish pixels on a smartphone was around that 300 PPI.

Of course at 326 the iPhone 4 met the "spec" with room to spare. A 4" iPhone is going to be at the lower end of this Retina spectrum but should look great.
Click to expand...

so i guess just under retina requirements unless they start to fudge it
 
nuckinfutz said:
Thanks. Read an article that said the same but was too lazy to do the maths



Yes of course. PPI would only drop if the resolution stayed the same yet the display was larger.
Click to expand...

If this ends up being true I also see apple further getting enhancments for the LCD. For instance the Retina iPad had more saturated colors and what not. Looks like LCD has made a great comeback and is better then any super amoled in most aspects especially visibility in light.:cool:
 
iproductsuser said:
Apple wouldn't take a step backwards!
Click to expand...

No they wouldn't, especially not all the marketing dollars they put into defining Retina Display on a phone.

However, 1136x640 might not be a step backwards, but it is in no way a step foward either, which is concerning.

Apple would be better served with a 720P display, especially if they stick to the S refresh business model.

720P is a much better two iteration resolution than expanded qHD.
 
yalag said:
And is 290 ppi still retina at the same viewing distance? Any ideas?
Click to expand...

The easiest way to remember is that "retina" uses the same calculation used to define "print quality" as being 300 DPI on a sheet of paper held one foot away.

At 290PPI, you'd only have to hold it a little under 12-1/2 inches away to be "retina".

A while back someone here created a chart to make it a bit easier, at least for larger distances:

retina_chart.png
 
Interstella5555 said:
Again, these don't exist.
Click to expand...

Being purposefully ignorant just makes you look jaded and immature. (Think, "I know you are, but what am I?")

Of course Apple coined the term "Retina" display in house, and it isn't a standard unit of measure, but they gave it specific parameters and revealed exactly would they were/are.

To say that the term has absolutely no value b/c Apple coined it is just as bad as blindly accepting anything/everything someone or some company says.:apple:
 
To the people who keep posting that Retina Display is just a marketing term with no established definition, and that Apple could sell bacon cheeseburgers etc. and call them Retina Displays: rather than going to the trouble of typing the same old fallacy time and again, please just post this acronym: RDIJaMT (Retina Display Is Just a Marketing Term).

That way, more informed readers will instantly know you have not bothered to educate yourself about the matter and can pass over your post. You can type less, we can read less--it's a win-win! :D
 
Thanks to those who have provided valuable information to this thread :) but as a previous poster has implied, in order for it to remain close to 300 dpi it will need to be a resolution of 1136 x 640. In other words, a resolution change.

So to conclude, to keep the retina status the new iPhone will not be 640x960.
 
willmtaylor said:
Being purposefully ignorant just makes you look jaded and immature. (Think, "I know you are, but what am I?")

Of course Apple coined the term "Retina" display in house, and it isn't a standard unit of measure, but they gave it specific parameters and revealed exactly would they were/are.

To say that the term has absolutely no value b/c Apple coined it is just as bad as blindly accepting anything/everything someone or some company says.:apple:
Click to expand...

You're right (though if you'd be so kind as to point out where I'm being "ignorant" it may be helpful)...or maybe I've seen things like "3D," "4G," and "HD" tossed around enough to know that despite any "standard" they can mean wildly different things. If being realistic is being jaded, then yes, yes I am, but it's going to be hilarious watching you all try and figure out if a screen fits a marketing term.
 
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