Expert Opinions on Retina Display

During his keynote at WWDC 2010, Jobs announced the Retina Display on the new iPhone 4, calling it "the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone screen ever." The claims have led to pushback, with a competing manufacturer saying that the Retina Display is actually a battery hog and that it can't touch OLED displays. An analyst, meanwhile, contradicted Steve Job's claim that the human eye can't detect individual picture elements at a density below 300 pixels per inch.

Jobs bragged that the new iPhone's LCD screen, reportedly made by LG Innotek, outperforms active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) displays such as those found on the Samsung Galaxy S. Samsung quickly attacked back claiming that their AMOLED screens beat the Retina Display contrast ratio, color reproduction, and response time. A Samsung spokesman went as far as saying "Structurally IPS LCD technology cannot catch up with AM-OLED display technology."

One of the claims made by Jobs that the human eye can only discern jagged edges at a density above 300 pixels per inch was disputed by an expert. Dr. Raymond Sonieera asserted that the retina can idneitfy individual points at an angular measurement of 50 cycles per degree, or 0.6 arcseconds. He translated this to explain that "if you hold an iPhone at the typical 12 inches from your eyes that works out to 477 pixels per inch. At 8 inches it's 716 ppi. You have to hold it out 18 inches before it falls to 318 ppi." Despite taking an opposing side of the claim, Dr. Soniera still admits tha the Retina Display is "most likely the best mobile display in production (and I can't wait to test it)." However, he added, this is another example of spec exaggeration."

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