The debate over the screen resolution of the upcoming iPad 2 has taken a turn for the worse today. Digg founder, Kevin Rose has joined Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, in the belief that the iPad 2 will not feature a Retina display. Here’s the latest on the Apple iPad 2 display saga.
Depending who you ask, the iPad 2 is destined for resolution greatness or destined to remain constant. Both DigiTimes and Engadget have reported that the iPad 2 will offer a Retina display running at 2048 by 1536 pixels. With close ties to component makers, DigiTimes has an above average track record when it comes to nailing the fine print in Apple products. Meanwhile, Engadget is among the most highly respected tech blogs (other than Electricpig) and has an even better score card.
On the other front, Kevin Rose has his own set of sources within Apple who originally confirmed the display has a “higher dpi”, but not technically a Retina display. Today he provided additional insight via SMS, saying the iPad 2 will have “no change in resolution”. The news from Kevin Rose today corroborates a similar claim made by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber who says an iPad with a Retina display is “too good to be true”.
For now, there’s evidence to support both claims. There are double-resolution UI elements for the iPad in the iBooks 1.1 application which would tie in nicely to the higher-resolution display. However, the cost of such a high resolution would be very difficult for Apple to maintain the current pricing. For now, whether or not the iPad 2 will feature a Retina display is anyone’s guess.
Do you think the Apple iPad 2 will feature a Retina display? Is this the feature that Apple must bring to the table to differentiate itself from the upcoming Android 3.0 tablets? Sound off.
via 9to5Mac
