What PPI Is Retina?
"Retina" is Apple's marketing term for a screen where individual pixels are imperceptible at a normal viewing distance. The key insight: it depends onboth PPI and how far your eyes are from the screen.
The rule-of-thumb
At typical phone/tablet distances (~10–12 inches), a display of about300 PPI or higher is generally considered Retina-class. For desktops viewed from farther away, ~200 PPI can already look perfectly sharp.
Why distance matters
The farther you sit, the lower the PPI needed to look "retina." That's why a large TV can look crisp at 80–100 PPI from across a room, while a phone needs 400+ PPI held close to your face.
Our calculator flags a result as Retina-class (estimate) when PPI ≥ 300. This is an approximation — the actual threshold varies with viewing distance and individual visual acuity. Use the tool below to check any screen.
PPI Calculator
√(W² + H²) ÷ size | PPI ±0.1See the pixel density
—Higher PPI packs more pixels into the same physical area, producing smaller pixels and finer detail.