Apple To Include Retina Display In All Premium Products, Including Apple TV? [Rumor]

CNet’s interview
with Dr. Raymond Soneira, the CEO of DisplayMate Technologies, suggests
that Apple will be use Retina display technology to differentiate their
flagship products from the competition. Keep in mind that DisplayMate
isn’t a supplier of Apple’s screens; they’re a calibration and color
profiling company. As a ‘display expert’ Soneria has put forward reasons
why Apple would want to release a Retina-branded HDTV set.

Was color accuracy, not sharpness, the reason behind the retina display’s success?

Soneria’s reason is not resolution. By resolution and the distance we
are expected to sit from our sets, we would have already seen ‘Retina
display’ televisions by 1080p. The reason why DisplayMate’s CEO thinks
Apple will release its own TV set will be to introduce a television with
perfect photometry and colorimetry.

In a prediction on his company website,
Soneira noticed that the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 had matching photometric
and colorimetry profiles, so images that appear on the iPhone 4 and 4S
will be of the same quality as those on the iPad 2. The iPad 3
does even better with these measures, being “virtually perfect” in
terms of factory display calibration (and they predict the next iPhone
will follow suit).

What does this have to do with an Apple-Branded ‘Retina’ television
display? Consumer televisions tend to display an “inaccurate and
inconsistent” picture. An Apple-branded television would be able to
match the display quality of the iPhones and iPad. This way photos and
apps will look consistent from the iPhone to the TV set.

It’s important to keep in mind that Soneira is in the business of
selling calibration software to people who actually notice color
calibration; Soneria and his clients aren’t average consumers. Unlike
resolution, subtle changes in the color accuracy aren’t qualities most
consumers know or care about. Many may not care enough about accuracy to
tune their televisions away from ‘vibrant’ show room lighting.

Sample test images from DisplayMate Technologies
What
do you think: Will Apple’s next step be to introduce a TV set that
looks good out of the box, or does colorimetry not matter enough by
itself to warrant an expensive new product?