Many of you could have heard about Retina display. It is commonly featured in Apple devices. However, do you know what it is? Take a look at this article for better understanding.

What is Retina display?

Actually, different from quad-HD display or ultra-HD display, Retina display is a market term, not a technical term. However, there’s still a way to define it! Retina display is a display on a computing device whose pixel density is high enough so that the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels. Another way to describe retina display is that the image on that display has no differences from the image in the real world, or at least there are some differences that the human eye cannot recognize!

Technically speaking, scientists has proven that people with over 20-20 vision are able to recognize the pixelation effect. But in fact, there has not been any record of such cases. Currently in the smartphone industry, Retina display is a trademarked term of Apple. So if other smartphone companies want to feature such display technology in their products, they have to ask Apple for permission.

So how many pixels does a Retina display have?

The resolution of Retina display depends on the screen size. Normally, the resolution in smartphone display are shown in the format of [number of pixels]x [number of pixels]. But with Retina display, the resolution is expressed in the form of pixel density. This makes sense actually, because an 8-inch full HD screen is more poor-looking than a 5.5-inch full HD screen. If you smartphone has a large screen but low pixel density, the display is still disappointing!

Even when we define Retina display by mentioning the pixel density, there are still many ways to classify this technology. It also depends on the distance between the display and our eyes! Normally, the pixel density are 326ppi (pixel per inch) for smartphones, as we tend to hold our phones the closest to our eyes. For tablets, it’s 264ppi and for laptops, it’s 220ppi.