There have been many rumors about the iPad doubling its screen resolution to 2048 x 1536 pixels. I do not believe this will happen for a few reasons.
1. Cost. A display of that caliber at 9.7 inches simply doesn’t exist in a form thats affordable. A display with nearly this many pixels sells from Apple for $999
2. Power. To push graphics and motion on a screen of this resolution would take an insane amount of horsepower. To get an idea lets take a look at Tom’s Hardware and gauge how the latest ATI graphics card treats a game at this resolution. As you’ll see it can’t even deliver a consistent 60 frames per second experience.
3. No Incentive to Deliver. Apple right now is in the drivers seat when it comes to the tablet business. They have sold nearly 15 million, competitors arent even shipping yet and they’ve lined up developers in bunches. Their focus at this point is growing the reach of the iPad not delivering something so bleeding edge the price goes up.
4. It’s all about the consumer. Apple’s focus is on delivering features and products users want. A beautiful screen is a nice to have, but we won’t see the true difference until they deliver it, so for now they’ll focus on adding video cameras and improving the smoothness at which games and animations can happen. You ever felt an app that runs at 60 frames per second. It just feels so much better.
