Analysis of the new Apple iPad
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 9, 2012 1:37 AM ESTFinal Words
In many ways the new iPad was a known quantity. We knew to expect a faster SoC, a significantly higher resolution display and LTE support - Apple delivered on all fronts. The new iPad, much like another iPhone, is simply a tangibly improved version of its predecessor.
The iPad 2's display quickly became unacceptable from a resolution standpoint. The 3rd generation iPad's Retina Display completely addresses the issue and creates a new benchmark for other players in the tablet and ultraportable notebook space to live up to. It really is great to see Apple pushing display technology so aggressively and at reasonable price points. I do hope it's only a matter of time before we see a similar trend on the Mac side.
The finer details of yesterday's announcement were interesting - a much larger battery and 4x-nm LTE baseband. Arguably the most important information however is what Apple didn't talk about.
Today we have a first-world-problem with tablets, including the iPad - they are spectacular for certain usage models, but frustrating for others. Tablets aren't notebook replacements yet, but they can be more useful than a notebook depending on what you're doing. At the same time, tablets can be considerably worse than a notebook - again, depending on what you're doing. The solution to having the best of both worlds is to switch between or travel with two devices: a tablet and a Mac/PC. Ideally we'd like to see consolidation where you'd only need one.
Windows 8 proposes a solution to this problem: a single OS that, when paired with a convertible tablet (or dockable tablet like the Transformer Pad), can give you a tablet experience or a full blown desktop OS on a single device. Apple hasn't tipped its hand as to what the iOS UI strategy is going forward. I suspect we'll get some update at WWDC this year, but Apple is playing it very quiet at this point. Microsoft's strategy does bode very well for Windows users who also want a tablet, however it does alienate Windows users who want a more robust desktop experience. It's clear to me that Apple is trying to move the iPad closer to the MacBook Air in its product line, but it's unclear to me whether (or when) we'll see convergence there.
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tipoo - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
Maybe I'm more sensitive to it but I can definitely see the pixels in the borders of things like the Safari icon. The AT images are zoomed in of course so you notice it more, but its pretty easy to see at a glance on the iPad 1 and 2.ananduser - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
What you didn't mention in your analysis is that the "new" resolution is the result of a need and not a wish to trump competition on specs. Apple couldn't have chosen 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 or standard 1080p because of ios' lack of resolution independence. As they did with the iphone, Apple invested in a custom screen size just so that the ecosystem would introduce a x2 and voila, instant upgrade.ZeDestructor - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Not really custom. High-end 19"+ CRTs back in the late 90s did 2048x1536@72+Hz as a matter of routine.Roland00Address - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Nobody is shipping a device with a 1600x1200 or 1920x1200. Yes there will be competitors later on this year with those resolutions but no body is shipping an ips panel with those resolutions in a 10 inch form factor right now. Thus Apple is not saving money by merely retooling some other panel.Yet there is a reason besides higher dots per inch for choosing something with greater than 1200 height. When you turn the tablet so the skinner side is going from left to right that means the maximum webpage it can draw is 1200 pixels wide without zooming or not showing the entire website. Most webpages are designed for the following resolutions. 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1366x768. By picking something that is at least 1366 wide you are guaranteed to display the entire webpage.
Furthermore merely doubling the resolution makes it a lot easier to port apps to the higher screen resolution.
If you need to get custom panels anyway why not pick a resolution that makes sense from an app development perspective as well as being more useful at displaying webpages. Why do you need to follow the resolutions that are traditional on desktops, an ipad is not a desktop device so why situate it with desktop baggage when you are starting from scratch?
joelypolly - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
It isn't a new resolution and has been a standard LCD resolution call QXGA for many years. In fact IBM shipped a 15" Thinkpad with QXGA screens which looked awesome compared to the standard XGA screens at the time.doobydoo - Monday, March 12, 2012 - link
It's not because of a 'lack of resolution independence' at all. The iPhone and iPad both have different pixel ratios and both run iOS.It's to make life easier for app developers, and means that any existing apps for the iPad 1 or 2 can be scaled up automatically.
The Samsung Galaxy got this wrong by switching the ratio between generations. It quickly gets very messy for developers.
prophet001 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Hey Anand,I was wondering if you could elaborate more on the differences between the usability of a tablet and that of a laptop. Perhaps write a short article. I know that there are substantial hardware differences. However, what are the OS level differences that restrict what things you can do on a tablet? Thanks for this article and all you guys do.
classy - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
It looks like a true top notch tablet, but the price just seems to high. I have found more often than not, unless you are a reader, a laptop is better.jihe - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
And if you are a serious reader, kindle is betterSixOfSeven - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Depends on what you're a serious reader of. If it's technical literature, you need size and resolution. If it's a novel, pretty much anything will do (hence the Kindle). The first two iPads require too much panning and zooming for the sort of stuff I read; perhaps this one will be better.