3 ms·

Most people couldn't imagine the iPhone 4's retina display either, but Apple did it. I used to doubt Apple's engineering capabilities, but not anymore. I wouldn

Most people couldn't imagine the iPhone 4's retina display either, but Apple did it. I used to doubt Apple's engineering capabilities, but not anymore. I wouldn't put anything past them. The display that the iPhone 4 has didn't exist till it launched, so I figure this is no different.

kenjackson 16y ago
It's not just their engineering, but their scale. Buying 1 or 1,000 or even 100,000 of a cutting edge component can be expensive. But when you can put in guarantees on 1M+ of an item, you can seriously drive down prices. With the iPod thie is one reason why companies like Archos, iRiver, and even MS couldn't compete with Apple. Apple got preferred pricing based on volume that no one else could touch. If the iPad has that resolution I guarantee 10M units shipped in 2011, and that's probably conservative. No other tablet can come out and confidentally even think they could ship half that number.
- philwelch 16y ago
  The same is true of flash memory. During the heyday of the iPod, Apple was the world's largest purchaser of flash memory, and would pre-order a year's worth of production, at significant discount.
- flyosity 16y ago
  It's the cycle that kills Apple's competitors in the consumer market: 1) Apple sells millions of a brand new device, 2) this allows Apple to order millions of components, 3) cheap components drive down Apple's costs, 4) Apple can then lower the product's price but still retain a high margin, 5) Apple sells millions more because the feature & price one-two punch is too much to overcome.
  - code_duck 16y ago
    This shows why being first to the market with a good product can seal your advantage for years. Assuming it's not too early.
bryanlarsen 16y ago
Most people didn't have enough imagination, then. The Nokia N770 had a 800x480 pixel screen in 2005. It was more surprising to me that the original iPhone launched at such a low resolution and took so long to upgrade.
- xal 16y ago
  what was the DPI?
  - adolph 16y ago
    800 × 480 resolution, 4.13 in diagonal, widescreen From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_770_Internet_Tablet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_770_Internet_Tablet Display size: 3.54" × 2.12" (9cm × 5.4cm) = 225.9 PPI, 0.1124mm dot pitch, 51029 PPI² From: http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html
  - cubicle67 16y ago
    this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density#Nokia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_densi... says the device has a 4.1" screen, with a dpi of 225 for comparison, here's the dpi of some other devices 2010 iPhone/iPod 326 2010 Sony Ericsson X1 312 2007 Toshiba Portege G900 313 2010 Samsung Jet s8003 300 2010 HTC Touch Diamond 2 292 2010 Droid X 228 2010 Sony Vaio Z128 168 2007 iPhone 163 2010 PSP Go 145 2010 11" MacBook Air 135 2010 iPad 132 2008 Nintendo DSi 110

kenjackson 16y ago

It's not just their engineering, but their scale. Buying 1 or 1,000 or even 100,000 of a cutting edge component can be expensive. But when you can put in guarantees on 1M+ of an item, you can seriously drive down prices. With the iPod thie is one reason why companies like Archos, iRiver, and even MS couldn't compete with Apple. Apple got preferred pricing based on volume that no one else could touch. If the iPad has that resolution I guarantee 10M units shipped in 2011, and that's probably conservative. No other tablet can come out and confidentally even think they could ship half that number.

philwelch 16y ago
The same is true of flash memory. During the heyday of the iPod, Apple was the world's largest purchaser of flash memory, and would pre-order a year's worth of production, at significant discount.
flyosity 16y ago
It's the cycle that kills Apple's competitors in the consumer market: 1) Apple sells millions of a brand new device, 2) this allows Apple to order millions of components, 3) cheap components drive down Apple's costs, 4) Apple can then lower the product's price but still retain a high margin, 5) Apple sells millions more because the feature & price one-two punch is too much to overcome.
- code_duck 16y ago
  This shows why being first to the market with a good product can seal your advantage for years. Assuming it's not too early.

bryanlarsen 16y ago

Most people didn't have enough imagination, then. The Nokia N770 had a 800x480 pixel screen in 2005. It was more surprising to me that the original iPhone launched at such a low resolution and took so long to upgrade.

xal 16y ago
what was the DPI?
- adolph 16y ago
  800 × 480 resolution, 4.13 in diagonal, widescreen From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_770_Internet_Tablet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_770_Internet_Tablet Display size: 3.54" × 2.12" (9cm × 5.4cm) = 225.9 PPI, 0.1124mm dot pitch, 51029 PPI² From: http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html
- cubicle67 16y ago
  this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density#Nokia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_densi... says the device has a 4.1" screen, with a dpi of 225 for comparison, here's the dpi of some other devices 2010 iPhone/iPod 326 2010 Sony Ericsson X1 312 2007 Toshiba Portege G900 313 2010 Samsung Jet s8003 300 2010 HTC Touch Diamond 2 292 2010 Droid X 228 2010 Sony Vaio Z128 168 2007 iPhone 163 2010 PSP Go 145 2010 11" MacBook Air 135 2010 iPad 132 2008 Nintendo DSi 110