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A few days ago a client asked me if the transition to the iPhone 4s retina display was a difficult one, development-wise.

This made me ask myself whether I should have considered iPhones with high resolution dispays even before the iPhone 4 had been announced - creating artwork with higher resolution, preparing codepaths... (while, of course, creating high resolution artwork is never a bad idea, considering its use for marketing, porting to other platforms etc.)

Now, with the iPad being around for some months, first rumors of a future iPad with retina display emerge from the depths of the www. And I start wondering - would it make sense to prepare new projects for such an iPad? I'm pretty sure that apple will in fact release a retina iPad at some point in the future, because it would be quite a logical step. So, I guess the important question is "how soon can we expect such a device?". There is much to consider when thinking about that, most of all production difficulties and the impact of a resolution of 2048 x 1536 (if apple sticks to simply doubling the "old" specs) on a mobile devices performance...

So, what do you think? Will it pay up to prepare new projects for a retina iPad, starting now? Or do you think the overhead is not worth it, yet?
Maybe some of you are already developing with the retina iPad in mind..?

I'd be glad to hear some of your thoughts! Thanks alot, guys!

Well, Apple just answered my question. Yes, it was in fact reasonable to consider a Retina iPad..!

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4 Answers

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I wouldn't spend too much time making your app work on a theoretical device. But that doesn't mean you can't be prepared. Ever since they started changing things around I've been considering the following:

  • Use vector art wherever practical. That way resizing should be simple
  • Don't assume that the screen is 768x1024 or 320x480. Try to make your views gracefully resize
  • Don't assume that there will be an on-screen keyboard

So far Apple have allowed time between announcing products and making them available, and even there un-optimised apps have still worked.

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Exactly. I designed my iPhone application along these lines, and had few troubles moving to the Retina display when that was announced. The only times you should require a fundamental redesign of your interface are in cases where the physical size of the device has changed. Also, avoid making conditional checks for device types in your code, instead checking for features. Some applications broke on the iPad / iPhone 4 because they only checked for specific models of devices. –  Brad Larson Oct 1 '10 at 16:53
"Don't assume that there will be an on-screen keyboard." — this is true now anyway, since users use Bluetooth keyboards and so on. –  Duncan Babbage Nov 11 '11 at 7:43
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Most of my work is for a client who has their own designer, who provides me with layered Photoshop files to pick image elements out of. I now have a policy with them that ALL images will be provided to me at double resolution. I don't care if it's just text, if it's only going to be on the iPad, I want it at 2x no matter what.

That takes a lot of thinking and judgement out of the hands of the designer (who's a good designer but not a particularly good technician or strategist), and allows me maximum flexibility in what I'm building.

Right now, I don't think I'd build @2x support into an iPad app just now (although presumably 4.2 will allow you to do it and have it downgrade nicely, just like 4.1 does), but I have the graphics here ready to install when needed.

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A few of Apple's apps (such as iBooks) have already been seen in the wild with @2x iPad graphical elements (mistakingly?) left in, so it is clear that a retina iPad is coming as soon as it is practical for Apple to affordably include such an incredibly hires panel.

It might be later this year, it might be a year from now, or it might be two years from now.

It doesn't hurt at all to prepare now though. It is easy to downres graphics, but it is often impossible to upres graphical elements without redoing them from scratch.

So short answer - do everything in @2x resolution now, but wait to include it with your app until the time is right. When Apple issues the call for retina iPad apps, you'll be ready to go and able to be featured on day #1.

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"It is easy to downres graphics, but it is often impossible to upres graphical elements without redoing them from scratch." — Absolutely. –  Duncan Babbage Nov 11 '11 at 7:38
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I'm going to agree with the others. I'll go out on a limb and say I think it is highly likely that a Retina iPad will have 2x horizontal and vertical resolution compared to the current iPad screen, just like the did with the iPhone, because it is such a freaking clever idea in terms of the relative ease of support of the new resolution for developers, the backwards compatibility with apps that have not been updated, and it also gives Apple a mechanism for preventing developers from making a I'll-cram-in-more-UI-on-the-high-resolution-version interface...

So absolutely, planning ahead for this is a good idea. That said, the ideal would be to plan for full resolution independence where possible, using vector artwork and so on so you can re-export at new resolutions with minimum hassle.

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