What is the Difference between 720p VS 1080p on a Phone and Does Higher PPI Mean Better Quality?

By Carrie Tsai,  Last Updated: October 16, 2019

Many phones have come out recently and most people will check the parameters before buying. Have you ever be confused by “resolution”? What does it mean? Is the higher resolution the better?

After reading this article, I’m sure you will be equipped with the basic knowledge of this concept so that you can choose the most suitable and cost-effective one.

What is Phone Screen Resolution

Before explaining, we should know how the images on the phone screen are formed. The mobile phone screen consists of thousands of pixels, which is the small squares of the image and each of them has a position and assigned color value. The more pixels a phone image or a word has, the clearer it becomes, making screen present clearly.

Phone screen size can be either inches or pixels. The inch measurement is the diagonal screen size and the size of the phone screen (pixels) is called “resolution”.

Therefore, the measurement of phone screen is a measure of the number of pixels of the screen from left to right (X axis) and from bottom to top (Y axis). If the screen size of the smartphone is 720 pixels from left to right and 1080 pixels from bottom to top, then the resolution of it is 720×1080 pixels.

For most smartphones, the X-axis or horizontal measurement is often less than the vertical Y-axis or screen height.

What Does PPI, P and K Mean

We may have seen several expressions about resolution such as 720P, 2K and 326ppi, which have different meanings.

PPI

PPI is the abbreviation of Pixels Per Inch, which represents the pixel density of the phone screen. In theory, the higher the value of PPI, the greater the image density displayed on the screen, and the higher the degree of fidelity and reduction.

P

“P” is the abbreviation of Progressive, which is “progressive scan”, representing the total number of lines of video pixels.

For example, 720 means that the screen has 720 lines of pixels, and the specific resolution is 1280×720. 1080P means that the screen has a total of 1080 lines of pixels, with the specific resolution of 1920×1080.

K

“2K, 4K” stands for the total number of columns of video pixels. For instance, 2K means that the screen has 2000 columns of pixels and 4K resolution means 4000 columns of pixels. In general, as long as the horizontal pixel is bigger than 2000, it can be called a 2K screen.

What is My Screen Resolution

If you want to know this parameter of your phone, you can manually check it. Just go to the Settings and then find About Phone/My Phone option. After tapping it you will see the “resolution” column.

In addition to the manual way, you can also check it on the official website of your mobile phone brand.

Is The Resolution Higher, The Better?

Many people may believe that the higher the resolution of the screen is, the clearer the screen display, so they tend to choose a smartphone with a high resolution. It that always the case? Let’s analyze it from different perspectives.

Upside

The picture details are clearer. At the right screen resolution, the display of the mobile phone screen will become clearer. And the watching experience will be greatly improved.

For instance, when the image size is the same, if the picture is at different resolutions, the clarity varies. The higher the resolution is, the more obvious the details are.

Downside

The higher resolution will bring about problems like eye fatigue, power consumption and higher price.

If you use a mobile phone with a high resolution for a long time, you eyes will easily to be tired even myopia. Though it is necessary to pay attention to the clarity of the mobile phone, it is advisable to put your eyes on the top of the list.

Meanwhile, the higher the phone resolution is, the greater the power consumption during the use of the mobile phone. In addition, higher resolution means higher material costs, resulting in an increase in the price of the mobile phone.

Another concern is that whether the resolution of the screen will affect the quality of photos. In fact, the resolution of the mobile phone does not represent the quality of the camera function.

It is the chip processor, lens, and focus function of camera that determine the quality of photos. You had better choose a phone with good camera function based on the mentioned factors.

All in all, it is not always the case that the higher the resolution, the better. When it comes to choosing a mobile phone, do not put too much weight on the screen resolution. Instead, you should select a resolution that suits the size of your phone.

For example, phones below 5 inches, the resolution preference is 720P. For 5-6 inches ones, 1080P can basically meet the needs. For mobile phones over 6 inches, it is recommended to choose 2K resolution.

We hope that this article will serve as a helping hand, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.