Sam OliverCiting upstream component makers, Taiwan's DigiTimes reported Thursday that the iPad 2 will feature a resolution of 2048 by 1536, which would be quadruple the total pixels of the iPad. The current touchscreen tablet's 9.7-inch display has a pixel ratio of 1024 by 768.
For further evidence, the publication referred to previous reports that discovered icons labeled "@2x" in the iBooks application for iPad. For example, the current application's background image has a resolution of 768 by 400, while the "iPad@2x" file is 1536 by 800.
"The sources (added) that the larger resolution should provide the company's app developers more convenience, while all future applications will be able to run under any of Apple's machines including the 27-inch iMac," the report said.
It also noted that Apple should be able to ship more than 40 million iPads in 2011, and the company ordered between 1.6 million and 1.8 million devices in January. Initial iPad 2 shipments are expected to be between 400,000 and 600,000.
Though evidence exists suggesting a new high-resolution display for the second-generation iPad, one report this week claimed that such an upgrade is simply not in the cards for the 2011 model. John Gruber of Daring Fireball said on Wednesday that claims of a potential "Retina Display" in the next iPad are simply "too good to be true."
Gruber said the new iPad is expected to have a faster processor, more RAM, and better graphics performance. But he also believes it will have the same 1024-by-768-pixel display as on the current iPad.
Regardless of the resolution, as reported by AppleInsider, the iPad 2 is expected to have improved graphics capabilities with a fast dual-core SGX543 graphics processing unit included in a new, custom system-on-a-chip from Apple. The SGX543 architecture can support up to 16 cores, and the chip can push 35 million polygons per second at 200Mhz, and 1 billion pixels per second. It is also capable of handling Apple's OpenCL standard.
-m.jpg)
Bon Adamson
Christine McKee
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
146 Comments
I'd love to see it, but I doubt it.
Either way considering this is a want and not a need, I think I've now talked myself into waiting for the doubled res, even if it takes another year.
My macbook works just fine and the reality is that while the ipad can completely replace my computing needs outside of work, I dont really need a replacement right now, so hi res or bust, I'm not one of the every-refresh buyers.
I had the original iphone until last month, when I got an iPhone 4. Never regretted that and was thrilled with the drastic improvement.
I'd love to see it, but I doubt it.
Either way considering this is a want and not a need, I think I've now talked myself into waiting for the doubled res, even if it takes another year.
My macbook works just fine and the reality is that while the ipad can completely replace my computing needs outside of work, I dont really need a replacement right now, so hi res or bust, I'm not one of the every-refresh buyers.
I had the original iphone until last month, when I got an iPhone 4. Never regretted that and was thrilled with the drastic improvement.
I like the way you think, my friend
"The sources (added) that the larger resolution should provide the company's app developers more convenience, while all future applications will be able to run under any of Apple's machines including the 27-inch iMac," the report said.
Bogus. Almost convincing until they throw in this garbage.Though it has given me a thought - when the iPad moves to an x2 resolution (as it almost certainly will, even if not this year), developers may find it difficult to develop apps when their Mac screens (if <27") have a lower pixel count than the device they're trying to emulate. Scroll bars so you can see and access the entire virtual iPad screen would be rather cumbersome.
I'm still not convinced.
I’m with everyone else on this: Not convinced, but really want this rumour to be true.