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James Martin/CNET
Samsung is allegedly cooking up a new Ultra HD display that could arrive just in time for next year’s Galaxy Note 5 phone/tablet hybrid.
Specifically, the screen would measure 5.9 inches and sport an Ultra HD Super AMOLED display with more than 700 pixels per inch (ppi), according to a tip received by blog site Phone Arena. Such a phone could offer a 4K resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels, according to the site. Samsung would reportedly start to mass-produce the new display in August, which means it could be ready for the next Galaxy Note, which typically rolls out around the start of fall.
In contrast, the current Galaxy Note 4 offers a 5.7-inch display with a Quad HD Super AMOLED display and a resolution of 2,560×1,440 pixels.
So far this is just a lone tip from an unidentified source. But at a Samsung analyst event in November 2013, the company did reveal that it was developing Ultra HD displays with a 3,840×2,160 pixel resolution for 2015.
In May, rival LG noted that it was eyeing smartphone screens with 600 ppi and even 700 ppi displays, according to Phone Arena.
One key question remains about these higher-resolution smartphone displays. Do they really make a difference? Experts say that the human eye can only perceive a certain number of pixels. Daniel Gleeson, a senior analyst at IHS, told CNET in May that at around 12 inches away from an object, “a perfectly healthy human eye with 20/12 vision” — which is even better than 20/20 vision — “would be able to see 466 pixels per inch.”
So as display makers battle to top each each other with higher and higher resolutions, will the average person really be able to notice the finer details? We’ll see if consumers can tell a difference if Samsung and LG actually come out with screens at 3,840×2,160 pixels next year.
