Why is the 2K screen equipped with the Android flagship standard, Apple is not willing to do it?

The other day Tony chatted with colleagues in the office and talked about the development of mobile phones today.

Then we found a problem, the current flagship model of domestic mobile phones, basically used to declare that they are 2K screen (3216x1440).

Like the realme GT2 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, OPPO Find X5 Pro and so on...

I took a look at Apple, if according to these domestic manufacturers, the screen resolution of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is only 2778x1284, which has not yet reached the category of 2K in their eyes.

What to say? Friends and businessmen rolled up to fly, you don't even have a "2K" screen and deserve to be called high-end?

It's just that users look more and more picky over the years, but not too many people criticize the screen configuration of the iPhone, so the iPhone has really begun to slowly rot over the years?

In Tony's view, Apple did not want to play the concept with Android manufacturers...

There are three main reasons for this, let's start with the first one.

First of all, in terms of screen parameter standards, the direction of the two camps is different.

As I said before, whether the screen is delicate enough or not is not determined by the resolution factor at all. At the same resolution, different sizes and pixel densities result in different results.

Perhaps some poor friends have noticed that the screen parameter table of some mobile phones will write "xxx PPI", which generally appears together with the resolution.

The "PPI" thing is the pixel density, which represents how many pixels are in each inch of the screen. The higher the value, the more delicate the picture.

There is a simple calculation formula, for example:

A 6.67-inch 1920x1080 screen, its PPI is about 330; if you change to the same size of the domestic manufacturers of 2K screen (3216x1440), then the PPI should be about 528.

This is also one of the reasons why in the conventional perception, the higher the resolution, the better the picture quality.

But the iPhone is different, they are used to using pixel density as a standard to set the screen, rather than the overall number of pixels related to the resolution.

When Jobs released the iPhone 4 that year, he proposed a concept:

They put 960x640 pixels in a 3.5-inch screen, so that the pixel density of this screen reached 330 PPI...

Then it is said that for mobile phones, within the normal viewing distance, the screen pixel density can reach more than 300 PPI, and the human retina cannot distinguish the pixels.

This kind of high-resolution screen that exceeds the limit of human eye recognition is the beginning of what is commonly known as the "retina screen".

Since then, Apple's successive product screens have remained above 326 PPI and formed a product standard of its own.

This bitterly caused the Android camp at that time, and could only iterate on products that did not meet the retina screen standards to 1080P to stabilize the situation.

Later, mobile phone screens developed from LCD to OLED, and Apple set a pixel density standard (458 PPI) that meets OLED screens, and has been adhering to it to this day.

LCD pixel arrangement

and OLED pixel arrangement ▼

But the problem is that it is well known that the size of Android phones of the same level is mostly wider than Apple. Therefore, in the case of the same resolution, the pixel density of Android is bound to be inferior to that of the small size iPhone.

Just like there are 50 children on both sides, one side (Android) is in a 100 square meter classroom, the other party (Apple) is in a 50 square meter classroom, which side has a greater density of students.

In this case, Android wants to make the PPI part of the parameter not worse than Apple, and the size cannot be reduced, so it can only increase the resolution.

Plus, you can add...

With a big wave of the hand, the 2K road of Android flagship mobile phones begins... Even in the early years, even some mobile phone brands that sold less than 2,000 yuan in the main cost performance wanted to join in the fun.

Just to Tony to say ah, this wave is almost self-inflicted. In fact, Android can play with himself, but rush to get on Jobs's "thief ship".

If you have to compare with Apple, you don't go to the 2K screen because it's really not enough.

However, in the following years, the android camp mobile phones moved forward, and the situation has quietly reversed. From the perspective of pixel density, the vast majority of manufacturers have caught up with or even surpassed Apple. For example, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro (522 PPI); OnePlus 10 Pro ( 525PPI ) and so on...

But the iPhone 13 Pro Max still adheres to the standard of 458 PPI, and it is even inferior to its own little brother.

Obviously Apple first proposed the standard concept of pixel density, why has it not been self-motivated in recent years, but has been surpassed by Android?

That's the second reason Tony wants to say: It's not that necessary.

Because the PPI and the display effect are not exactly linear proportional to each other. For example, from 200 PPI to 326 PPI, this change in the visual experience is very obvious.

It's like suddenly switching from 720P to 1080P is like opening up a new world.

However, the higher this parameter goes, the more the direct change in the perceptual experience will gradually decrease.

Like oppo Find X5 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, the former 525PPI is much higher than the latter 458PPI, but we can't feel a very obvious improvement when we look at a normal distance with our eyes.

Although I know how fine the picture is, OPPO may work better. But for Tony, as long as there is no obvious sense of grain, daily use does not feel much impact.

Unless you put the screen in front of your eyes, a little closer observation, or enlarge the screen more than ten times can naturally see the difference... But any normal person, no one will use a mobile phone like this.

And unnecessarily increasing the number of screen pixels will also increase the power consumption of mobile phones. The battery life of Apple's mobile phone is not originally an advantageous subject, why is it uncomfortable to find it in a hurry.

In addition, the third Reason Tony felt was crucial: Apple was too unique.

As far as the current high-end flagship mobile phone camp is concerned, the iPhone is still the only one. Performance can not be beaten, other manufacturers want to call the iPhone can only take other ways.

What photography, fast charging, battery capacity, screen quality have become the "corner overtaking" track... So these years have not had time to pull the apple off the horse, and I have been exhausted by the roll.

Android: Friends and merchants have some configuration, I can't not do it, otherwise it is a dead end if it cannot be sold.

Apple has no burden on this.

For Apple, they are simply not willing to pay more for something that is "enough and does not affect sales".

I even feel that this momentum of cutting the rope is probably the habitual consumer... Even if some of the configurations other than chips are now slightly insufficient, there are still people who are willing to buy it.

When Android is changing the OLED screen, the iPhone is still sticking to the LCD screen. Don't you want money to customize your screen? Does it cost money to re-do the system adaptation?

People can even save the cost of the charger, let alone the mobile phone screen such a big expenditure?

But Android is different, they have become accustomed to changing the method to improve competitiveness.

Of course, we were talking about it ourselves. Tony wants to say whether there is a possibility that this so-called 2K mobile phone screen concept is basically a conspiracy designed by Android manufacturers?

For example: "What exactly is 2K?" ”。

According to the industry standard for film and television, 2048x1080 is 2K at full frame.

From this standard point of view, Apple mobile phones have long used 2K screens.

Even if we just need to stretch Huawei's 1920x1080 screen a little longer, they are also completely 2K screens...

But does this really seem to be contrary to people's conventional perceptions? The problem is that even the manufacturers themselves have not formed a uniform resolution standard.

For example, the resolution of the Sony Xperia 1 III (3840x1644), which they think is 4K, does not reach the standard of 4000 pixels, whether horizontal or vertical.

Let's be a little more simple and rude, everyone's conventional cognition of 1440P ( 2560x1440 ) belongs to 2K.

A rough calculation shows that the number of pixels is 3686400, and the number of pixels for the iPhone 13 Pro Max is 3566952.

With a few million or tens of millions of figures, just 100,000+ changes, Tony can't believe how huge the impact is, and it is difficult to say that it does not reach the 2K level...

In this way, the 2K and 2.5K screens repeatedly promoted by domestic manufacturers are more like marketing concepts that are biased to create their own benefits.

Tony feels that compared with the resolution of this standard is complex, but also involves the definition of different screen proportions, pixel arrangement and other factors, the choice of PPI as the standard for their own product screens, but has become the most secure and least likely to dispute the practice.

After all, when the size is the same, the PPI number itself is bigger and better. Playing with concepts? In fact, Apple is the real connoisseur.