iPhone apps look a lot better on the new iPad

Through some close inspection it’s been observed that the new iPad is able to use Retina display assets when playing an (non-iPad compatible) iPhone app. Sounds confusing? Basically what this means is that the new iPad runs iPhone apps better then the previous two iPads were able to.
The new iPad introduced a fourth resolution to the iOS family. With the introduction of the iPad Retina display there is now: 320×480, 480×960, 768×1024, and 1536×2048. Apple’s plan all along was for these resolutions to play nicely together — the aspect ratio was maintained from one generation to the next and by using pixel doubling an iPhone app worked on the iPad (although it didn’t look great). Where this broke down was when the iPhone 4 came out with its Retina display. These apps couldn’t be doubled to work on the iPad… not that pixel doubling was ever a great solution.
If you look at the pixel count you’ll notice that you don’t need the Retina display to do this: the iPhone 4/4S’ 480×960 will fit perfectly fine into the iPad/iPad 2′s 768×1024. The problem is that Apple didn’t allow it — users had to get a jailbreak only app called Retina Pad to get it to work. That’s right, Apple was still using the 320×480 even if the Retina assets were available. While the new iPad will display the better version, the first two tablets will not. It’s not clear if this was by design or if the new iPad’s GPU is what makes this all work.
With the release of the third generation iPad Apple opened the iPhone Retina-compatible app floodgates. This means that iPhone apps (that is to say, non-universal apps) will look at lot better on the iPad 3 than they do on the iPad 2. Interestingly this makes for a number of different possible quality levels (so long as there are a corresponding number of app versions available). Some of these include iPhone Retina on iPad, a standard iPad app, and then iPad Retina apps.
Unless you are a major app geek you probably won’t stress out about these too much, but it’s worth noting that non-universal iPhone apps just became a much more viable option for iPad 3 owners. They won’t get the full-on visual appeal of an app in 1536×2048, but things will be noticeably better than before.
TouchArcade noted that the quality level of an iPhone Retina app and a native iPad app are close to equal on the new iPad. Once more iPad apps have been updated to Retina display compatibility it will give buyers a reason to pay more for the HD version.

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