iPhone 6 screen thoughts?

[St1ckM4n]

There's a lot of rumours floating around on the iPhone 6. 4.7inch, 5.5 inch screen.. I'm gonna focus on the screen.

Do you remember the transition from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4? The screen went 'retina'. The way Apple handled this, was to double the resolution (double both horizontal/vertical pixel count) of the 3GS screen, allowing apps to be easily backwards compatible on the iPhone4. All developers had to do was increase the quality of their app assets, and the app was retina-ready.

When iPhone 5 was released, extra space was added to the bottom of the screen. Easy backwards compat too.

When Retina iPad came out, the same thing - doubling of resolution. When the mini came out, it was same resolution as non-retina iPad - easy compatibility. When Retina iPad Mini was release, the same thing happened - doubling of the resolution, easy compatibility.

So, assuming a 4.7inch iPhone 6 exists, what will happen? I say doubling of resolution:
iPhone5: 640 x 1136 @ 4 inches = ~326ppi
iPhone6: 1280 x 2272 @ 4.7 inches = ~554ppi.

LG G3 has 534ppi. I am sure Apple can pump out such a screen above. The result? Easy backwards compatibility.

 

[bluejolls]

Not matter how much bigger it will be than the current phone, their will still be thoes who say it's too big and won't buy it. but once truth becomes fact and the phone is released they are once again standing in line for it. kinda reminds me of the iPhone 4,4s many said they would never go to a bigger phone but thoes same peeps now have a 5s.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Update:

Seems that iOS SDK makes developers code UI in terms of gen1 non-retina counts. Everything is just scaled 2x for retina devices and the retina-quality assets are used.

Which means that this Techspot article about a 3x resolution (retina is 2x at the moment) is indeed plausible.

However, that would make a 4.7inch (and 5.5 inch) display with less than 1920x1080. That would mean Apple would release a phone which is well below today's flagships - and the PPI is indeed noticeable.

So, while x3 resolution would work I still stand by my prediction of a 4x display.

 

[mr.simonski]

I'm not sure if I should get an iPhone 6 if the screen is enlarged to much! Currently I own an iPhone 5 and I specially like that the screen is not to large so the phone fits well into my pockets.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Yep, that is actually a selling point for iPhones.