Yes. In 2010 the iPhone 4 introduced a “retina” display with 4x the pixels, and that’s when Android device manufacturers started tripping over themselves to one-up each other in a pointless DPI race.
And thank goodness they did. I'm now holding in my hand the best smartphone screen I've ever seen on the Note 8. And I have multiple generations of screens to compare it to from my note 3, note 4, s5 and s7e, as well as my wife's iPhones up to the 6.
Much as I was one who once said I'd probably never need more than 720p.... meh! I was just flat out wrong. This screen is so much nicer to look at and do anything on.
On the note, resolution makes a difference when drawing and sketching with the stylus. At its highest res, the feel of the pen is near perfect. There's actually a function to the screen beyond just it looking good. If Apple would ever make an iPhone pro with a mini pencil I bet suddenly a lot of iPhone users would rave over it. Hell I'd even want one.
I don't think makers 'tripping over themselves' to add features -better and higher res screens included- has ever been a bad thing for consumer choice.
I wish Apple would do it more rather than hold out on basic features for years, or play 'add one feature, take another away' as much as they do.