Retina iPad mini display shows poorer color accuracy than Apple's iPad Air

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
The Retina display on Apple's newest 7.9-inch iPad mini shows a smaller range of colors than the high-resolution screen found on the larger iPad Air and other competing tablets, according to one analysis.

iPad Air vs iPad mini display test
The difference between the displays in the iPad Air and iPad mini can be readily seen in the red areas. | Source: Anandtech


In contrast to the unit's otherwise impressive gains in resolution and performance, Apple has chosen to equip the new iPad mini with a display that features the same narrow color gamut as its non-Retina predecessor, as noted by Anandtech. The tablet was bested by Apple's fourth-generation iPad and new iPad Air, as well as Google's Nexus 7 and Nvidia's Tegra Note 7 in testing.

Measuring color gamut means, broadly, measuring the subset of colors a display can reproduce within a larger, predefined range. The iPads were subjected to tests that measured their ability to reproduce colors within the sRGB color space, an industry standard range of around 1 million colors designed to be used with computers. The difference is most apparent in red, blue, and magenta colors on Apple's new Retina iPad mini.

Differences in color reproduction are quantified with a measurement called Delta-E, which represents the difference between the color the display is asked to reproduce and the color the display actually shows.

The Retina iPad mini managed an average Delta-E of 6.5 across the gamut, compared to 2.4 for the iPad Air and 3.3 for the Nexus 7. Delta-E values of approximately 2.0 or lower are considered unnoticeable to the human eye, while professionals who require display color accuracy --?like photographers and video editors --?aim for Delta-E values of 4.0 or lower on their workstation displays.

Anandtech speculates that Apple believes consumers for whom color accuracy is a concern will choose the iPad Air over the smaller tablet by default, rendering the new iPad mini's marginally narrower color gamut --?a difference which the publication calls "small but apparent" --?a nonissue.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 180
    So in other words it's NOT an oversaturated mess like you find on, say, Samsung devices.

    Got it.
  • Reply 2 of 180
    Oh NOW it's Apple's display. If it had beat all the rest in the benchmark, credit would have gone to LG.
  • Reply 3 of 180
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Nothing like Apple rumor sites creating a "gate" out of nothing. :rolleyes:
  • Reply 4 of 180

    I don’t expect 60% cacao to taste like 95% cacao, after all.

  • Reply 5 of 180
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member

    This is unacceptable. I hope someone at Apple is pounding the table and yelling that this should not have gone out like this.  The Aandtech.com review goes into depth on the issue 

     

    How is it that companies with a fraction of the resources can ship much better displays at volume?  

  • Reply 6 of 180
    The fun part is that if some $79 whitebox tablet running Android 2.3 had shitty gamut, Anandtech wouldn't have a story. It's only fun to dig dirt on Apple.
  • Reply 7 of 180
    Here come the critics while this thing sells like hot cakes during the holidays...WAY TO GO APPLE!
  • Reply 8 of 180
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    red oak wrote: »
    This is unacceptable. I hope someone at Apple is pounding the table and yelling that this should not have gone out like this.  The Aandtech.com review goes into depth on the issue 

    How is it that companies with a fraction of the resources can ship much better displays at volume?  
    What volume?
  • Reply 9 of 180
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    I read this on iLounge. I'm glad I waited because between this and the camera I will wait another year. I don't need to buy one every single year.
  • Reply 10 of 180
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    The fun part is that if some $79 whitebox tablet running Android 2.3 had shitty gamut, Anandtech wouldn't have a story. It's only fun to dig dirt on Apple.

     

    Are you seriously trying to throw mud at Anand? It's not like he did a separate article calling Apple out, this was included in his comprehensive iPad mini Retina review. And Anand has always been kind to Apple devices; it's not like he's a hater.

  • Reply 11 of 180

    What the **** is wrong with Apple? How can people give them a pass for this crap?

    Not using the same tech used on the Air, to save a few bucks for net profit?

     

    And here I was, thinking that it was about doing the best product possible. Bean counters... But I admit that it is much worse on the Macbook Air.

    I still love it, though.

  • Reply 12 of 180
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    What volume?

    iPad Air?

     

    Nexus line? They really sell like hot cakes, (what that was, 2 million per month?) and Asus (!!!) can do it. Don't be a fool.

  • Reply 13 of 180
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    macair wrote: »
    iPad Air?

    Nexus line? They really sell like hot cakes, (what that was, 2 million per month?) and Asus (!!!) can do it. Don't be a fool.
    Nexus is selling 2M per month? Do you have a source for that?
  • Reply 14 of 180
    I can confirm this. I went to the Apple store on Saturday to checkout the New iPad Air and Retina Mini. I did my normal test that I do at all Apple stores when new devices are launched. As a hobby I do photography so Display matters a lot to me. I picked up an iPad Retina Mini and went to my Flickr account and looked at my pictures. I immediately noticed all my pics look a bit washed out (The colors were less saturated). I then went to a iPad Air and the colors looked a lot better. I then looked at them on the iMac and the Retina MacBook Pro. All fine, but Retina MacBook Pro looked amazing, of course. I then went back to the iPad Mini Retina and looked at my photos again and they looked washed out. I was considering a Retina Mina but now I will wait. Accurate colors matters a lot to me. My girlfriend or daughter wouldn't notice a thing, so it can be a good Xmas gift to them.
  • Reply 15 of 180
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post



    So in other words it's NOT an oversaturated mess like you find on, say, Samsung devices.



    Got it.

     

    Unfortunately, Thats probably not it.

    A lower colour Gamut doesn't mean less saturation, it could be the the screen is going to display some colours incorrectly (it has a lower colour range).

    could make a pic thats meant to show a specific blue, being shown as a slightly different blue (maybe mixed into green).

    in the iPad mini retinas case, its most likely not a big issue, its colour Gamut is probably only a little lower than the iPad Air, apples standard for accuracy is superkickass :) so its probably no biggy.

    I didn't some reading, Super amoled actually has a higher colour gamut compared to IPS LCD, but none of the samsung devices have anything to calibrate the display colour (like a chip of some sort) so they show crazy colours, i have a few super amoled screens.....Really don't like em.

    Amoled can display above the sRGB standard, which doesn't matter if they can't configure it properly. 

  • Reply 16 of 180
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Nexus is selling 2M per month? Do you have a source for that?

    Again, why do you always do this? What is that sick need to defend Apple, come up with excuses, when there's no possible excuse?

     

    The iPad mini should be "the" product. If they had to raise the price even more, that's fine, but it should be about making the best product.

     

    The Mini and the Macbook Air show that it isn't about that. It's about margins, and that makes Apple an hypocrite, because they always come with the "different" thing. As fair as I know, they aren't worse than others, just hypocrites too.

     

    Nexus sales were documented, somewhere. I won't bother find it for you, you can also use Google, but that's not the point. Amazon does it. Asus did it. HTC did it on big screen phones.

     

    It was a choice based on margins.

    Apple itself did it right for the iPad Air.

     

    With 40% margins and 160 billion on the bank for fat useless shareholders, Apple should treat their costumers better. Stupid decision. They didn't bet on LTPS LCD nor on IGZO. Just wait and see posture. Disgusting for the leader on innovation and the most valuable company in the world.

  • Reply 17 of 180

    but but.......  iPad Mini w R gave me 16 GB extra space + Convenience to hold and use.

     

    Also I do not have Air next to me to compare and whine about Mini color <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" /> 

     

    Buy what you want. Media has always whined about Apple products!

  • Reply 18 of 180
    iaeeniaeen Posts: 588member
    macair wrote: »
    Blah Blah...

    Paraphrase: no, I just made the numbers up.
  • Reply 19 of 180
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    The fun part is that if some $79 whitebox tablet running Android 2.3 had shitty gamut, Anandtech wouldn't have a story. It's only fun to dig dirt on Apple.

     

    It doesn't have a "shitty" gamut. The gamut is just not QUITE as high as that of the iPad Air, in a way that not a single consumer would notice, nor a single reviewer without scientific testing. Every single hands-on/review has said the screen looks just as good as that of the Air's. But nice use of subtlety there. 

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Red Oak View Post

     

    This is unacceptable. I hope someone at Apple is pounding the table and yelling that this should not have gone out like this.  The Aandtech.com review goes into depth on the issue 

     

    How is it that companies with a fraction of the resources can ship much better displays at volume?  


     

    What fucking company on the planet ships anywhere NEAR the tablet volume as Apple? Not to worry, MacAir will enlighten us soon..

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacAir View Post

     

    What the **** is wrong with Apple? How can people give them a pass for this crap?

    Not using the same tech used on the Air, to save a few bucks for net profit?

     

    And here I was, thinking that it was about doing the best product possible. Bean counters... But I admit that it is much worse on the Macbook Air.

    I still love it, though.


     

    Is that what you think actually happened? That Apple had 2 choices, all things were equal, one was a few bucks less, and they were like "yeah lets gowith that one"? It couldn't POSSIBLY be that they're 2 separate devices, with different screens, made by different manufacturers, with different design/engineering considerations, and they did not have the option of using the  EXACT SAME screen with the EXACT SAME specs as the Air?Your assumptions are ludicrous, childish, and ignorant. 

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacAir View Post

     

    iPad Air?

     

    Nexus line? They really sell like hot cakes, (what that was, 2 million per month?) and Asus (!!!) can do it. Don't be a fool.


     

    And.. here we go. When backing up "How is it that companies with a fraction of the resources can ship much better displays at volume?", your first example of such a product is.. wait for it... not a product from another company, but another iPad model. What brilliant argumentative skills you have. And then you bring up the Nexus line- a tablet that sells NOWHERE NEAR the volume of the iPad (even if you aren't lying about the 2 million/month figure- which you are- thats still only 12% or so of Apple's volume- not exactly "similar), yet you're so desperately grasping at straws to prove your "point", so that's the best you can do. Not only that, but since you're comparing smaller tablets, the Nexus 7 would be the only reasonable comparison- which has a screen resolution of 1920x1200, compared to 2048x1536 for the iPad mini- A full 27% less pixels.

     

    Then you go on and call people "fools" after failing to make a meaningful comparison, or coming up with a single equivalent product that sells at volume and has a screen quality that exceeds that of the mini. I'd be embarrassed for you, if you didn't act so much like a tool. If you think there's a superior product out there, go buy it, instead of pretending to be outraged over something that there's no chance in hell you would have perceived. 

     

    PS- The same reviewer that wrote that review also wrote in last year's mini review how he "wouldn't hold his breath" for the 2013 mini to have a retina display- because of the massive computational engineering advances that would have to be made to make that possible in that form factor. That should tell you something about the impressiveness of what Apple's done, compared to your ignorant, self-righteous "how can people give them a pass for this crap" drivel without an ounce of perspective or rationality.  

  • Reply 20 of 180
    red oak wrote: »
    This is unacceptable. I hope someone at Apple is pounding the table and yelling that this should not have gone out like this.  The Aandtech.com review goes into depth on the issue 

    How is it that companies with a fraction of the resources can ship much better displays at volume?  

    Who else is shipping the the same volume as Apple?
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