This change produces a few tangible benefits. First, the pixels on the retina display are so small that the human eye cannot distinguish between them. Small pixels enable crisper and finer edges on the displayed content, especially text. Higher resolutions enabled by smaller pixels also mean that the phone can easily display a lot more content in the same size area. The end result is that individuals can examine more information.

However, the crisp Apple displays come at a price -- literally. "The iPhone screen is much more expensive than LCDs of similar sizes: by our calculations, it commands a 60% to 70% premium," stated Harry Wang, Director, Mobile & Health Research at Parks Associates.

However, the movement to larger displays presents vendors with some challenges. "The newer screen sizes have to be supported by the phone's underlying hardware and software components," explained Parks' Associates' Wang. Vendors start off with a long list of obvious items that they have to tweak: operating systems, application APIs, applications, browsers, and chipsets. In addition, a 4-inch smartphone that can support HD content might require upgrades to the device's CPU and graphic chip(s).

From the article, "When It Comes to Smartphone Screens, Size Matters: Part II" by Paul Korzeniowski.

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