Apple’s decision to give the iPad mini a Retina display is certainly an improvement from the original device’s display but at least one display expert thinks it’s still “lagging” behind both the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX. DisplayMate president Raymond Soneira this week knocks Apple for supposed “poor planning” when it comes to the Retina iPad mini’s display, which he says uses outdated technology that has been easily surpassed by its competitors.
“The new iPad mini with Retina Display has a high-resolution, high-PPI display like the other two Mini Tablets that we test here,” Soneira explains. “But shockingly, it still has the same small 63% Color Gamut as the original iPad mini and even older iPad 2. As a result, the iPad mini with Retina Display comes in with a distant 3rd place finish behind the innovative displays on the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and new Nexus 7.”
Soneira singles out Apple’s decision to rely so heavily upon IGZO display technology as a main reason for why the Retina iPad mini’s display doesn’t match up with the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HDX.
“All of this reliance on IGZO is really bad planning,” Soneira writes. “Right now there is a readily available display technology that has much higher performance than IGZO. It’s Low Temperature Poly Silicon LTPS, and it is used in all of the iPhones and in all of Samsung OLEDs… Apple is now lagging in displays, an area where it was once the leader.”
If Soneria’s research is right then it makes the Nexus 7 and 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX look like positive bargains since both sell starting at $229 while the Retina iPad mini sells starting at $399.
