Understanding Screen Resolutions and PPI

Not all mobile devices are created equal, and not just in memory or processing power. The screen sizes of most mobile devices are different and may vary significantly even when compared to a previous version.

Let’s look at the iPhone as an example. Apple originally created the iPhone with a screen size of 3.5 inches and a resolution of 320×480. Apple continued using that screen size and resolution until the iPhone 4, which has the same 3.5-inch display but a substantially increased resolution of 640×960.

While that is great to designers and geeks who obsess over product specifications, you may be asking yourself why the resolution matters and whether it has an effect on anything.

Clearing Up Resolution