iBooks Icon Doubling Causes Retina Display iPad 2 Speculation

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Over the weekend, some iPad-specific and resolution-doubled icons found in iBooks Version 1.1 made everyone speculate that the iPad 2 would have a 2048 x 1536 display. Not quite Retina, but close enough.

Unfortunately, the speculation breaks down upon closer examination. Not only are the pixel-quadrupled iBook icons old news, but there’s a conflicting mention of a 1536×800 pixel resolution in the same build.

In fact, Apple’s been suggesting that developers provide a double resolution icon for each iPad app since June. This is just Apple thinking forward: yes, they’d like to have the same pixel density in the iPad as in the iPhone and iPod Touch, but that doesn’t make a 10.1-inch Retina Display economically feasible this generation.

In other words, this resolution-doubled iPad icon business? Much ado about nothing. The iPad 2 might have a Retina Display, but not because of a couple of higher res icons.

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