No need for 4K display on Apple's iPhone 7 because of screen quality, expert claims

AppleInsider

Apple's Wide Color display on the iPhone 7 is the iPhone's best yet, with a record high contrast ratio and record low reflectance according to a recent third party analysis, and the quality of the screen may cast doubt on rumors of a shift to OLED displays.

DisplayMate has examined the displays on the iPhone 7 family, and has overall found them to be best in class. Besides just the contrast ratio and low reflectance, the company found the peak brightness in high ambient light situations to slightly exceed Apple's claims at 705 nits.

The analysts also discovered that the iPhone 7 has a screen reflectance of 4.4 percent, the lowest that the company has ever recorded in a mobile device. The overall record low is 1.7 percent on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

Color accuracy, including both the sRGB and DCI-P3 Wide Color were examined. DisplayMate calls the iPhone 7 screen overall the "most color accurate display that we have ever measured."

"The iPhone 7 excels due to its record absolute color accuracy, which is visually indistinguishable from perfect," says DisplayMate, "and is very likely considerably better than any mobile display, monitor, TV or UHD TV that you have."

As a result of the display improvements in the iPhone 7, DisplayMate claims that the screen doesn't need the 4K resolution because of sharpness, will perfectly replicate any video content the user wishes to throw at it, and will force other manufacturers to "play catch-up fast" or be left behind in the marketplace.

Wide Color, as found most recently on the iPhone 7 family, is Apple's name for the DCI-P3 color space. DCI-P3 was designed as a standard for digital movie projection for American film industry. Most displays use the older "standard RGB" (sRGB) with a narrower color space -- the iPhone 7 is calibrated for both color profiles, and shifts between them as needed.

Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feature the Wide Color display. The 4.7-inch iPhone 7 features a 1334x750 display at 326ppi, with the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus including a 1920x1080 screen at 401ppi.

SpamSandwich

"That's a lot of nits."

williamh

SpamSandwich said:

"That's a lot of nits."

That's for sure.  Anyone who isn't satisfied is just nit-picking.

(sorry)

volcan

They need to show some display accuracy of known color values such as Barbie pink, or Klein blue etc. Just saying it is accurate without actual measurements is only subjective.

suddenly newton

Steve Jobs once said that Apple starts from user experience and works back to the technology that makes it happen, instead of starting from the technology and working towards user experience.

in other words: never technology for its own sake.

spliff monkey

What's the point of a 4K ~5" screen anyway? As noted, there are many ways to make a better screen than just packing more pixels in there. Is 4K on a 5" screen really a droid/ Samsung feature? While I do like my 4k TV because I sit quite close. 10 Bit RGB color makes the bigger difference. I basically "can't see" the pixels on my iPhone as it is. Not sure how "MORE PIXELS" makes a better phone anyway except maybe for some one who doesn't know any better, bragging to another friend (who also doesn't know any better) that their phone is measurably superior to another. I don't even waste my disputing it with Droid fans. They go down that road of "well, droid does x better". And I just nod my head and say of course it does.  

gatorguy

spliff monkey said:

What's the point of a 4K ~5" screen anyway?  

Exactly!

anton zuykov

volcan said:

They need to show some display accuracy of known color values such as Barbie pink, or Klein blue etc. Just saying it is accurate without actual measurements is only subjective.

What made you think "they" didn't measure color accuracy?

http://www.displaymate.com/Colors_37.html

http://www.displaymate.com/Color_Accuracy_ShootOut_1.htm

ireland

The main place LCD falls down at this point is black levels. Everything else is wonderful. Reflectivity is an issue, but black levels matter more to my use personally.

volcan

anton zuykov said:
What made you think "they" didn't measure color accuracy?

Are there any color calibration tools or software for an iPhone? The only way that I would trust is to visually compare known color values to a physical swatch, one swatch at a time. I've been calibrating monitors for prepress for many years and I don't trust calibration instruments.

retrogusto

spliff monkey said:

What's the point of a 4K ~5" screen anyway? As noted, there are many ways to make a better screen than just packing more pixels in there. Is 4K on a 5" screen really a droid/ Samsung feature? While I do like my 4k TV because I sit quite close. 10 Bit RGB color makes the bigger difference. I basically "can't see" the pixels on my iPhone as it is. Not sure how "MORE PIXELS" makes a better phone anyway except maybe for some one who doesn't know any better, bragging to another friend (who also doesn't know any better) that their phone is measurably superior to another.

I generally agree, and used to wonder the same thing myself, until I borrowed a friend's VR headset. Then you have half of a phone screen for each eye, and there are lenses that magnify it to make it seem bigger. In this case, I could easily see the individual pixels, and it wasn't hard to imagine how it would be better if the resolution were higher. But for any other normal use, higher resolution does seem like a waste of system resources and a counterproductive marketing ploy. 

Soli

sog35 said:

ireland said:

The main place LCD falls down at this point is black levels. Everything else is wonderful. Reflectivity is an issue, but black levels matter more to my use personally.

black levels mean very little in a lit area.

You're saying Apple Watch was designed only to be used in the dark? If lit areas aren't important then why is now, by a wide margin, Apple's brightest display? 

Pdybman

However, i would really like the 4"7 to get Full HD, that is 1920 X 1080, and the 5"5 can get 2K . Basically that's what it would take for me to upgrade from my 6S

tzeshan

So next year the media will say the iPhone 8 with OLED is an Apple downgrade. 

mike1

volcan said:

They need to show some display accuracy of known color values such as Barbie pink, or Klein blue etc. Just saying it is accurate without actual measurements is only subjective.

The diagram is about as objective as you can get regarding color accuracy.

roake

Pdybman said:

However, i would really like the 4"7 to get Full HD, that is 1920 X 1080, and the 5"5 can get 2K . Basically that's what it would take for me to upgrade from my 6S

Spoken like a true android troll.  "I need better specs!"

blastdoor

retrogusto said:

spliff monkey said:

What's the point of a 4K ~5" screen anyway? As noted, there are many ways to make a better screen than just packing more pixels in there. Is 4K on a 5" screen really a droid/ Samsung feature? While I do like my 4k TV because I sit quite close. 10 Bit RGB color makes the bigger difference. I basically "can't see" the pixels on my iPhone as it is. Not sure how "MORE PIXELS" makes a better phone anyway except maybe for some one who doesn't know any better, bragging to another friend (who also doesn't know any better) that their phone is measurably superior to another.

I generally agree, and used to wonder the same thing myself, until I borrowed a friend's VR headset. Then you have half of a phone screen for each eye, and there are lenses that magnify it to make it seem bigger. In this case, I could easily see the individual pixels, and it wasn't hard to imagine how it would be better if the resolution were higher. But for any other normal use, higher resolution does seem like a waste of system resources and a counterproductive marketing ploy. 

Heh... yeah, it's a matter of how big the screen is and how far away you are. 

The "retina" designation recognizes that. 

I'm sure if Apple ever makes a VR headset, I'm sure that when they pick the resolution they will account for the fact that the display is a few centimeters from your eyeball. 

Subrandom

There are two things I'm unclear about:
1. Why are they conflating resolution and color accuracy? You could have a 4k display and STILL have perfect color accuracy. Having one doesn't negate any possible advantage of the other. Like others have said, I don't see the *point* of 4K on my phone - not that the Samsung display's aren't good looking (they are), but they aren't noticeably better to me either.

2. Why would other manufacturers need to play catch-up? Except for a certain subset of geeks that are excited about display technology (I count myself one), most people could not care less. As long as stuff looks good enough, it is. Nobody is doing professional photo-editing on their iPhone, or using it as a reference monitor. I hope.
Aside from that...go Apple go. I'm very happy with my 6S+ display, and glad to hear that my 7+ will look even "better".

schlack

My iPhone 7 screen (and photos I take with the improved camera) does look noticeably sharper and brighter than my iPhone 6 screen. Hard to know how much of this is real versus my mind making it true.

TurboPGT

suddenly newton said:

Steve Jobs once said that Apple starts from user experience and works back to the technology that makes it happen, instead of starting from the technology and working towards user experience.

in other words: never technology for its own sake.

From what I can see, the exact opposite of what Shamescum does. Any way in which they can appear to outclass Apple on paper by loading their devices with specs...particularly specs that do not translate into any sort of improved user experience.

Like their "wireless charging". So I don't have to plug in the cheap portable cables of which I have dozens lying around...instead I get to buy some unique mat with a huge footprint, and huge ugly power brick and cabling, on which I have to put my phone down to charge. Great. Lot of good that does me. At least with tethered charging, I can still pickup/use the phone if I need to while it is still charging.

It takes a special kind of moron to be successfully wooed by such gimmicks.

cropr

spliff monkey said:

What's the point of a 4K ~5" screen anyway? As noted, there are many ways to make a better screen than just packing more pixels in there. Is 4K on a 5" screen really a droid/ Samsung feature? While I do like my 4k TV because I sit quite close. 10 Bit RGB color makes the bigger difference. I basically "can't see" the pixels on my iPhone as it is. Not sure how "MORE PIXELS" makes a better phone anyway except maybe for some one who doesn't know any better, bragging to another friend (who also doesn't know any better) that their phone is measurably superior to another. I don't even waste my disputing it with Droid fans. They go down that road of "well, droid does x better". And I just nod my head and say of course it does.  

Not sure how "wide color" makes a better phone neither.   Both pixels and wide color make a slight difference if you look at the screen in perfect circumstances, but do not improve the user experience.  If you surf to a website, all images are compressed and scaled down, so why bother?