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Spec Numbers Mean Nothing -Apple Proves It Again

As their competition continuously beats the spec numbers drum, Apple has always shown just how meaningless those numbers can be. Samsung, Sony, HTC, Huawei constantly one-up each other with almost cartoonish spec numbers, but always get beaten to hell by Apple in real-world tests. 

spec war

iPhone 12 Display Takes The Lead

As usual, Apple’s latest phone has won a slew of accolades regarding its performance, with its display receiving the quote of “visually indistinguishable from perfect” from DisplayMate. With that high compliment, you’d figure Apple produced an 8375px X 4390px with full rainbow LED quasi-crystalline liquid polymer mumbo jumbo 5000. 

It’s 1080p. 

The iPhone 12 Mini has a resolution of 2340‑by‑1080 and even the iPhone Pro Max has a resolution of 2778‑by‑1284. Those are nothing but much more than 1080p!

So how can this pitiful resolution look better than say the Note 20 Ultras Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O Display measuring 3088×1440? 

Because Steve Jobs was right…

PPI Has A Viewable Limit

As Steve explained, the human eye can only discern a certain amount of detail from a certain distance. Any more than that you’d have to have it at your nose to see the difference. But, the trade-off is simple, each pixel needs more power to light up, and more processing power to change. So if you are processing more pixels then can be seen by the human eye…

WHAT IS THE POINT?

Oh, yea… bragging rights. Why else would Sony try and release a phone with a proposed resolution of 5040 x 2160 pixels??? That is damn near 900PPI! 

On paper, the iPhone 12 display simply can’t compare to the Note Ultra, or Sony Xperia, or even a Huawei. But in the real world, actually looking at it, they ARE better. 

The fact is, Samsung and co. know it’s just marketing fluff, they ship the Note Ultra with its QuadHD+ option turned OFF. Why? Because the performance hit and battery drain make it simply not worth the imperceptible change in display quality. 

Specs Don’t Mean As Much

Apple often loses the spec race, they have less RAM, slower clocked processors, and lower resolution displays… yet they beat the hell out of the competition in real-world applications. 

So next time your Fandroid friend starts spouting specs, you’ll know it doesn’t matter nearly as much as they think.

You simply don’t need more than a 1080p display on a phone. 

Do you have any thoughts? Contact us!

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Ryszard (Rick) Gold, From Calgary, Alberta, Canada has over 20 years of experience working with Apple products in a technical capacity. Passionate about technology in general, his natural troubleshooting abilities, curiosity and appreciation of good design lead him into working exclusively with Apple Computer products.
Ryszard Gold
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