Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

samcraig

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jun 22, 2009
16,786
41,983
USA
Wouldn't be surprised if new screen just announced on iPhone at 326ppi makes it way to the iPad in the next hardware revision
 
Real estate is still real estate. As good as this new iPhone is. It's still got a small screen.
 
I'm excited about the gyroscope that will be for sure in the next revision iPad
I also noticed he said we would have a system level pdf reader by the end of the month which means a software update then (NOT OS4). This is supposed to be a feature of iBooks too so you can organize pdf's. I would expect the Retina Display type screen also.
very cool!
 
I'm considering waiting until January now to get an iPad, the new features look so good and I'm afraid that if I get an iPad now then I will feel just like I do about my 3GS, like it's old and worthless now. Poor me. :'(
 
I'm considering waiting until January now to get an iPad, the new features look so good and I'm afraid that if I get an iPad now then I will feel just like I do about my 3GS, like it's old and worthless now. Poor me. :'(
More like May of next year but it will have some nice features added.
 
I'm considering waiting until January now to get an iPad, the new features look so good and I'm afraid that if I get an iPad now then I will feel just like I do about my 3GS, like it's old and worthless now. Poor me. :'(

I was considering the same thing and I am glad that I didn't wait, nothing like waiting 6mos, 12mos or 18mos and trying to justify why your waiting. I did that with the wii and will not do it again.
If there is a product out there that I like I will get it and use it and probably upgrade to the next generation just as I have with PCs in the past.
 
I was considering the same thing and I am glad that I didn't wait, nothing like waiting 6mos, 12mos or 18mos and trying to justify why your waiting. I did that with the wii and will not do it again.
If there is a product out there that I like I will get it and use it and probably upgrade to the next generation just as I have with PCs in the past.

me too. I love my iPad and cant wait till the next one comes out so I can upgrade to it and pass my wifi 32gb down to a family member. If you play the waiting game for new technology you will always be waiting it changes to quick.
 
me too. I love my iPad and cant wait till the next one comes out so I can upgrade to it and pass my wifi 32gb down to a family member. If you play the waiting game for new technology you will always be waiting it changes to quick.

Ditto!
 
The iPad is the first piece of hardware that I'm going to look after in terms of the back of it. It's going to stay in its case and then come the iPad 2, I'll sell this and get that. The main thing for me would be pixel density.

I'm more excited about seeing the OS update. I think that multitasking and folders will be awesome on the iPad.

Depending on payg price, I might get an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4 (or whatever it'll be called) as my 'really mobile' device.
 
Wouldn't be surprised if new screen just announced on iPhone at 326ppi makes it way to the iPad in the next hardware revision
I would. The screen is far and away the most expensive part of the new iPhone. Making one seven times the size for the iPad would cost much more than seven times the price because of lower yields, which would make the display price by itself more than the current total component cost of the iPad.

There's a reason why even netbooks don't have existing smartphone pixel densities and why desktop monitors don't have notebook densities, and it's not because the manufacturers wouldn't love to sell it to you.
 
I would. The screen is far and away the most expensive part of the new iPhone. Making one seven times the size for the iPad would cost much more than seven times the price because of lower yields, which would make the display price by itself more than the current total component cost of the iPad.

There's a reason why even netbooks don't have existing smartphone pixel densities and why desktop monitors don't have notebook densities, and it's not because the manufacturers wouldn't love to sell it to you.

Interesting, but on what basis are you coming up with these numbers?
 
Interesting, but on what basis are you coming up with these numbers?
The iPad measures 7.76" by 5.82" (~45 square inches). The iPhone display measures almost exactly 3" by 2" (6 square inches). The iPad's display is 7.5 times the size of the iPhone display, give or take.

The current iPhone display costs about $20, the Nexus One about $25. This new display will be substantially more expensive than either, probably by a large margin, but we'll give it a conservative price of $30.

Even if you scaled linearly from iPhone to iPad, that's already $225 for an iPad-sized display. But it costs more than that, because the higher the number of pixels, the lower the effective yield of your process (again, this is why the higher the density, the smaller the largest commercial size of the display). Costs will fall as volume ramps up, but not by nearly enough.

The iPad BOM is estimated at $230-260.
 
I know I've said this elsewhere but you're not going to see a 320+ ppi on the iPad anytime soon. Sorry, you're just not. Three reasons:

1) If you double the iPad's screen resolution to 2048 x 1536 you'd only end up with a screen running at 263.92ppi. To get into the same density as the iPhone you'd be looking at somewhere around 3072 x 2304 (well, a bit less, that'd be 395.88ppi). Does ANYONE think that's likely to be a) possible and b) cheap enough for a mass market product?

2) Even if you just went with a doubling of screen resolution you somehow have to drive it. That means more power from the battery and more graphics and cpu grunt to drive higher resolution graphics. The battery is such a key selling point of the iPad I really don't see Apple wanting to loose an hour or two for the screen and I'm not even sure if there's a sufficiently powerful CPU / GPU combination in the mobile space to push 3D gaming at that resolution.

3) There's also the minor issue of iPhone app compatibility. Think how poor even an iOS4 app would look upscaled 3x. Now imagine what an original iPhone app would look like. And running them natively would be right out as they'd be about the size of a postage stamp.

Basically the tech doesn't exist to do this without massive compromises elsewhere and a price tag that'd make it stupidly expensive. You're asking for the equivalent of a 30" cinema display in a 10" product that retails for $499... it's not going to happen. There may be elements of the process coming to iPad mind, the bonding of pixel layer and touch surface springs immediately to mind as does that new glass compound they're using, but the resolution isn't going to be 300ppi anytime soon.
 
I don't know when there will be, but right now there's not a fab on the planet capable of producing a 10'' 326ppi screen, so I wouldn't count on seeing it in the next iPad revision.
 
3) There's also the minor issue of iPhone app compatibility. Think how poor even an iOS4 app would look upscaled 3x. Now imagine what an original iPhone app would look like. And running them natively would be right out as they'd be about the size of a postage stamp.

Actually, 3x wouldnt look any worse than 2x. It would still look more or less the same as the physical size of the upscaled graphic isn changing. It might look *slightly* better even, as the extra resolution will mean a slightly less blocky image (but still pixellated).
 
Actually, 3x wouldnt look any worse than 2x. It would still look more or less the same as the physical size of the upscaled graphic isn changing. It might look *slightly* better even, as the extra resolution will mean a slightly less blocky image (but still pixellated).

Valid point, I shouldn't try to do both maths and logic before me first cup of tea.
 
It might not currently be possible to do such a high resolution screen, but we have about a year until the next version of iPad is released anyway. It will be interesting to see what developments are made in this technology over the next few months. See what is possible by the end of the year, and then we might be able to more accurately predict the update's screen resolution.

:apple:
 
The iPad measures 7.76" by 5.82" (~45 square inches). The iPhone display measures almost exactly 3" by 2" (6 square inches). The iPad's display is 7.5 times the size of the iPhone display, give or take.

The current iPhone display costs about $20, the Nexus One about $25. This new display will be substantially more expensive than either, probably by a large margin, but we'll give it a conservative price of $30.

Even if you scaled linearly from iPhone to iPad, that's already $225 for an iPad-sized display. But it costs more than that, because the higher the number of pixels, the lower the effective yield of your process (again, this is why the higher the density, the smaller the largest commercial size of the display). Costs will fall as volume ramps up, but not by nearly enough.

The iPad BOM is estimated at $230-260.

Logical to a point. You can't just multiply out 6 or 7 times the current price to get what it would cost. Manufacturing doesn't work like that. Consumer pricing, maybe - but not manufacturing. Based on the numbers you gave - I would ESTIMATE (wild guess here) that the cost would be more between 100-150. As you said - considerably more... but not to the extreme you outlined. Other than that, I agree with your discussion point.
 
It might not currently be possible to do such a high resolution screen, but we have about a year until the next version of iPad is released anyway. It will be interesting to see what developments are made in this technology over the next few months. See what is possible by the end of the year, and then we might be able to more accurately predict the update's screen resolution.

:apple:

The screen alone is much more than a year away. If you look at the early 15" LCD monitors with 1280x1024, we really havent come a long way with PPI on larger than phone sized screens over the last few years.

The hardware to drive it in an iPad form factor? Years again.

The battery to power it without increasing weight/size? Years again.
 
I think the next upgrade worthy of a new iPad purchase will be LTE (4G) connectivity. It's hard to say if the very next iPad revision will have it or the one after though.
 
I think Apple will bring out a slightly smaller iPad. iPad Jr., perhaps.
- 960 x 640 7" IPS screen.
- $100 cheaper than the 9" with same memory.
- WiFi only. Identical iOS to the 2010 Touch.
- Will work with same accessories as the 9" iPad.
 
I think that the iPhone 4 does show where the iPad will be moving to. But all technology gets more features as it matures that's just the way it is. I don't regret buying my iPad though and I don't believe that I will when a new one is released. I think, though I'm not sure, that I will replace the iPad on the same three year cycles that I replace computers. As I've already said that is open to change.
 
I think Apple will bring out a slightly smaller iPad. iPad Jr., perhaps.
- 960 x 640 7" IPS screen.
- $100 cheaper than the 9" with same memory.
- WiFi only. Identical iOS to the 2010 Touch.
- Will work with same accessories as the 9" iPad.

Not gonna happen. If anything(which I doubt) apple may release the next iPad with a slightly smaller screen for comfortability reasons.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.