No High-Resolution Display for iPad 2?
With the iPad 2 launch just weeks away, new rumors are coming out of the woodworks. Last week, we reported about the fact that the iPad 2 was expected to feature a display with a resolution of 2048×1536, four times the resolution of the current iPad, but according to the latest set of rumors, the second generation iPad may after all ‘only’ offer the same resolution as the original iPad.
According to John Gruber from Daring Fireball, sources close to Apple made no mention of the alleged higher resolution display, and instead told him that the iPad 2 will simply offer a 1024×768 resolution – something he would even “wager heavily” on.
Gruber’s report contradicts most iPad 2 rumors heard so far, as evidence of higher resolution artwork in the latest iOS 4.3 beta and the latest version of iBooks was recently found by several iOS developers. Moreover, references to a new OpenCL-Capable graphics chip from Imagination Technologies – the SGX543 GPU – able to drive high resolution displays have also been found in the iOS 4.3 beta.
In other words, nobody really knows what the resolution of the upcoming device will be. Gruber’s hunch may be valid though, as a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels would be unheard of, and extremely expensive to build – to put things in perspective, most 24-inch desktop displays offer 6 times more real estate than an iPad screen, but feature a resolution of only 1920×1200 pixels.