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back to article Apple screen maker preps 'retina' iPad Mini panel, pants reporter

Chinese-language website Do News has claimed that screen maker AUO is even now working on a “retina” display for the next-generation iPad Mini. But the site does itself no favours by alleging the panel will have a pixel density of a massive, unprecedented 497ppi. Now if Apple really is planning to up the Mini’s display …

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  1. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Any one else going to use these?

    Yeah yeah yeah... Any reason why Windows PC or Android tablet makers aren't using retina displays? Heck*, even some more machines 1920x1200 panels would be nice.

    (* choice of word both an effort to moderate my language, and a nod to that bloke who modifies/builds computers and games consoles amongst other things)

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    1. Dana W
      Reply Icon

      Re: Any one else going to use these?

      Not got a look at the nexus 10 yet have you?

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Any one else going to use these?

        It's Android. Think I'll wait and see what windows devices there are over the coming months or buy a new iPad.

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      2. Lusty
        Reply Icon
        Trollface

        Re: Any one else going to use these?

        "Not got a look at the nexus 10 yet have you?"

        I just tried to look but couldn't find the tech specs for the 3G/4G one anywhere?

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      3. Dave 126 Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Any one else going to use these?

        >"Not got a look at the nexus 10 yet have you?"

        No I hadn't. Whew. Cheers Dana W!

        I was primarily thinking of laptop displays though, my inclusion of tablets was a bit of an afterthought.

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        1. Dana W
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          Re: Any one else going to use these?

          I was not too impressed with Android tablets till the Nexus 7-10 came out.

          They are a real change of pace for Android tablets. Had my seven just a few days. Still impressed.

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    2. LarsG
      Reply Icon
      Meh

      Maybe

      They are talking about the mini 'mini' ipad, screen size 5.67893 display with a pixel count of 1,000,000?

      Patented next Wednesday in America.

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      1. Mattjimf
        Reply Icon
        WTF?

        Re: Maybe

        Or maybe it's the new Ipad mini mega - http://youtu.be/7J2Au80BmHc

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    3. Mark .
      Reply Icon

      Re: Any one else going to use these?

      They don't use "retina" as that's an Apple trademark. It would be like asking why Apple don't have PureView. But many of them do use high resolution displays, with many manufacturers offering devices with higher resolution than Apple's "retina" display. My Galaxy Nexus beats an iphone 5 resolution, and the Nexus 10 beats an ipad 4 - both at much cheaper prices.

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  2. Alan Denman

    Current Ipad Mini has a cheap mirror like display.............

    but only for the XMAS cash cow I bet.

    There are far worse screens around, but the Nexus and Fire HD screens are not of that breed..

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  3. Alan Denman

    ..........thinking about it I'm not to sure about cheap

    cause they reckon that the extra thinness of the screen costs big bucks.

    A strange choice of where to spend the money if you ask me.

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  4. GotThumbs
    Happy

    LMAO

    I love it! I absolutely love it!!

    I love the idea that right after Apple announces and is currently selling several million of its newest IProduct...that it has already started manufacturing the next generation of it. I guess its not too hard when you're first generation uses technology from its old IPhone 4 parts bin. Just thinking of all those millions of fools.

    The following phrase is so VERY true when it comes to Apple followers: 'A fool and his money are soon parted'

    Best wishes,

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    1. ThomH
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      Re: LMAO

      I think the article just means to claim that the prospective screen supplier has started tooling up to manufacture the screen, not that Apple have started filling warehouses.

      The PPI makes it all sound too unlikely to be worth paying attention to in any case. I guess the real argument is that they'd triple the current PPI (which would make 489), putting nine pixels everywhere one currently is but all that'd really do versus a doubling of the PPI is confer boasting rights, and Apple never seems to need an excuse to boast.

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  5. uhuznaa

    Of course

    There will be a retina iPad mini next year. It will be heavier, thicker (because of all the backlight and GPU power draw to drive and illuminate all those pixels and the battery to feed it) and more expensive (because of the more powerful GPU and higher integrated innards and display to keep the size and weight of the thing in check) and the current Mini will drop $50 or so in price. That's the usual way to do it. And totally reasonable, I would say.

    By the way, the iPad Mini still has a higher pixel density than the MS Surface. The display is far from perfect, but it's not bad either. In fact it's the first iPad I could like enough to actually buy it. I handled one a few days ago and liked it surprisingly much, it feels almost more like an ebook reader than a tablet. And 163 PPI is *much* better than the screen I'm right now looking at anyway. Doesn't really hurt either.

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    1. Mark .
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      Re: Of course

      No one cares about pixel density. It rewards devices being smaller, which isn't what you always want. Compare resolutions and screen sizes, but "density" as a stat is not something to compare different sized devices on.

      If you care about resolution, get a Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, or a Nexus 10. If you don't care about high resolutions, then the Surface is still fine - or still get a Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire or Nexus 10 anyway, as they're way cheaper than Apple's media player as well as better.

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  6. Andrew Garrard

    Unprecedented?

    In this sense?

    http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/1/3056490/sharp-caac-igzo-498-ppi-display-prototype

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't know if this will influence Apple

    But if they make an iPad Mini+, same dimensions as the iPad Mini, but with a retina display, I will buy one. I promise.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely not..

    Tony,

    Calling yourself a "pants reporter" is taking self-deprecation a little far.. That is, unless I missed the "Lingerie Register" sub-section..

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  9. Self-evidently!

    Lame

    It's not even REAL resolution. PATHETIC Apple when are you loosers going to GROW UP!

    Just S H I T E.

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    1. Dave 126 Silver badge
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      Re: Lame

      Oh dear 'Obviously!'... There's a village somewhere that's missing its twat.

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  10. Mark .

    *yawn*

    How about we report on actual products, rather than vaporware? It's the same everytime - Apple's products get completely smashed by the competition, so the media resorts to "But there'll be something better along in future, honest!" I might as well say the new AmigaPad 2 will beat it hands down, honest.

    By the time it comes out, if ever, Google with have an updated Nexus 7, at £80 less, just like they've done with the Nexus 10. And the rest of us don't care about super-high resolutions on devices that only have the functionality of oversized phones. I'm more concerned that netbooks are still stuck at 1024x600...

    PS - why is the Reg now plasted with adverts for iphone and ipad "apps"? Sorry, like most people I don't have one, but use more popular platforms like Android and Windows desktop. I don't see why you need a custom exe to read a website, I use this thing known as a "web browser". And if the exe offers more features, why aren't there applications for desktop platforms like Windows or Linux?

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    497 dpi would be totally stupid

    Going much beyond the iPhone/GS3/Lumia 920 level of around ~330 dpi is pointless. You just waste power by needing more light and more importantly waste GPU power pushing all the unnecessary pixels around, without improving the visuals at all.

    It will be interesting to see what Apple does with the Mini's resolution. Obviously they want to do Retina on it, the problem is it'll then have a higher resolution than the iPad. They can't double that one again, it would be over 500 dpi and no one needs 4K resolution on a 10" screen. Hell, there's no reason to have it on my 50" TV unless I decide I'm going to sit four feet away from it from now on.

    Now, on the other hand, on my 27" monitor that is less than 18" from my face, yes please!

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