The second generation iPad, iPad 2, is likely to have increased resolution, though it’ll still not be as good as Apple’s Retina Display, which is on iPhone 4. This conclusion has been deduced from Apple’s iBook app graphics, according to Apple Insider. Only some time ago, the screen resolution of iPhone 4 was doubled (from 320 x 480 Pixel to 640 x 960 pixel) and was called Retina Display after the human eye. The resolution was so well defined that individual dots were difficult to figure out.
The original resolution offered by the first version of iPad was 1024 x 768 pixel, with the ppi (pixel density or pixel per inch) being 132. Apparently, Apple is likely to simply increase the native resolution two times (and increased the pixels four times), just like when it launched iPhone 4. Image quality, however, remains short of Retina Display, but is still better than what even high end smartphones offer. Developers can release apps for both screen resolutions, each file being labeled differently according to the Apple convention.
To handle this kind of resolution, iPad 2 would need spectacularly high processing power as well. Apple Insider further says that both the next generation devices of iPad and iPhone will sport the custom ARM chip with twice the processing power so they may support increased resolution.
The basic question, however, remains: is so much increased resolution needed? The improved resolution is, in fact, higher than what is offered by even high end Mac notebooks.
The only problem is, users are mostly inclined towards 15 inch screens, and increase in screen resolution is becoming difficult to manage simply because while the screen may pack more items, the icons will become too small. Locating the icons with a mouse cursor will also be difficult. On iPhones, Apple has addressed this issue by making the icons resolution independent, which means the size of the icons remains the same irrespective of the screen resolution.