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macbook123

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 11, 2006
1,869
85
I hear the rumor mills predicting that the iPhone 6 is going to have a big display -- greater than 4.5 inches actually!

I've been saying for *years* that the iPhone's display has been too small. When I or a handful of others posted this here and elsewhere, we were laughed at by angry fanboys enthusiastically defending the choice of Apple to stick to a 3.5" display with some funny claims about human hand ergonomics that completely neglected variability in hand sizes, and then later adjusting their claims along the silly lines Apple to say that 4" on the iPhone 5 was as big as it could possibly be without compromising usability, because it was "only longer without being wider".

I (and a few others) just kept telling them to wait a few more years, that Apple had just become sluggish in its innovation, and that they'd eventually come around and go where the relatively free Android market did long time ago: to 4.5"+ displays. The fanboys just kept laughing this off.

Hell, I even gave up on Apple when the 4S came out, and later stuck to my move to Android when the 5 came out. This year I might finally be able to move back -- because even Apple eventually listens to their customers instead of their aged designer crowd.

But what, oh what, will all those fanboys say that so bravely defended the 3.5" display of the iPhone 1-4S -- against all reason? Will they buy up all stocks of small screen iPhones? Or will they happily embrace the "oversized" 5 incher? We shall see...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Hungry&Foolish

Suspended
Mar 29, 2012
461
2
Apple products will get too crowded. They should make 5 great products, should invest all the time and resources into those.
 

monkeybagel

macrumors 65816
Jul 24, 2011
1,139
61
United States
I hear the rumor mills predicting that the iPhone 6 is going to have a big display -- greater than 4.5 inches actually!

I've been saying for *years* that the iPhone's display has been too small. When I or a handful of others posted this here and elsewhere, we were laughed at by angry fanboys enthusiastically defending the choice of Apple to stick to a 3.5" display with some funny claims about human hand ergonomics that completely neglected variability in hand sizes, and then later adjusting their claims along the silly lines Apple to say that 4" on the iPhone 5 was as big as it could possibly be without compromising usability, because it was "only longer without being wider".

I (and a few others) just kept telling them to wait a few more years, that Apple had just become sluggish in its innovation, and that they'd eventually come around and go where the relatively free Android market did long time ago: to 4.5"+ displays. The fanboys just kept laughing this off.

Hell, I even gave up on Apple when the 4S came out, and later stuck to my move to Android when the 5 came out. This year I might finally be able to move back -- because even Apple eventually listens to their customers instead of their aged designer crowd.

But what, oh what, will all those fanboys say that so bravely defended the 3.5" display of the iPhone 1-4S -- against all reason? Will they buy up all stocks of small screen iPhones? Or will they happily embrace the "oversized" 5 incher? We shall see...

Phones are certainly not one size fits all. People have different size hands and smaller phones work much better for some people. Larger phones work better for others. Perhaps they will give options for people that like the larger phones, but I have been very happy with the iPhone 4. Stability and reliability are paramount for me and I want to know that the phone will be supported for a reasonable amount of time and that security updates will be available. Those factors mean more to me than screen size, personally.

----------

Apple products will get too crowded. They should make 5 great products, should invest all the time and resources into those.

I think this is happening, too. Tim Cook continues to say he is very confident in their product pipeline, but it seems to me they are slowly going back to the formula that almost put them out years ago. They still have a long way to go before they are there, but that seems to be the general direction they are going.
 

mrsir2009

macrumors 604
Sep 17, 2009
7,505
156
Melbourne, Australia
I think this is happening, too. Tim Cook continues to say he is very confident in their product pipeline, but it seems to me they are slowly going back to the formula that almost put them out years ago. They still have a long way to go before they are there, but that seems to be the general direction they are going.

+1. In the 90s Apple had tons of mediocore products that got incredibly stale.
 

wxman2003

Suspended
Apr 12, 2011
2,580
294
I'm sure Apple is already testing different screen sizes. They are already 5 steps ahead of us. A 4.5 inch screen is easy to do without making the phone much larger. Get rid of the home button and make phone slightly wider and there you go. If that's what people want, Apple will give it to them. In the end, it's all about profit.
 

Willdr1991

macrumors newbie
Mar 17, 2012
24
1
I feel the same way as the OP, i went from a 4S to an S3 and i LOVE the larger screen. Its just so much more productive and you gain more by having more screen to view videos, movies, browse the web, etc. if they release a 4.5" iphone i know many people who will come back to ios including myself. Also if you think about it the iphone 5 is really thin and they will start to run out of space because lets face it, the components can only be reduced in size so much. Where adding more things and newer technologies will be severely limited by how much space is available inside the phone. Going bigger will alleviate this.
 

Davejprince

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2012
232
0
The Netherlands
"Fanboys" Lol.

You care too much about other opinions.
If the new generation is a phone you'd like to purchase, do it.
"all" of the fanboys are just trolls if they refer to a particular screen size.
I'm fine with my 3.5" display but I would buy the same phone with a 4.3 inch display for example.
 

The Phazer

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2007
2,997
929
London, UK
But what, oh what, will all those fanboys say that so bravely defended the 3.5" display of the iPhone 1-4S -- against all reason? Will they buy up all stocks of small screen iPhones? Or will they happily embrace the "oversized" 5 incher? We shall see...

Can there still be some of us who think the 5 is too big and Apple's extension was a terrible blunder?

It may be time for Apple to offer more choice. Choice is good. Just as long as there's still a good, small handset.
 

JoeFkling

macrumors regular
Feb 3, 2013
169
61
If a 4.5" or larger screen iPhone is released, then I just wont buy it. The iPhone 5 is about the biggest I could get away with comfortably with talking, holding and using. I personally think that we are getting away from them being phones and they are just cellular devices. If all smart phones go to this size I would end up going back to a dump phone and carry a tablet.
 

mjpearce023

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2012
719
464
There are people who want big phones and poeple who want small phones and there are people who just parrot whatever apple says. I would love to have an iPhone with a bigger screen. I tried the HTC One X and it was really nice to have a larger screen. If the 5S is all we get this year I would have to look elsewhere but if a iPhone with a 4.5" screen or higher comes out I will jump on it. I prefer not to have to switch to android if I don't have to but the iPhone 5 just seems small to me. It’s a great phone but I want a bigger screen. Everybody keeps talking about iOS being stale but the small screen is a much bigger issue for me.
 

sand_man

macrumors 6502a
Jun 3, 2011
642
113
Johannesburg, South Africa
I'm amazed at how the demand for bigger phones simply doesn't seem to be abating.

I've always been of the opinion that anything bigger than 4.3" is/would be redundant on a smartphone but no, we heading deep into 5" territory and beyond.

If Apple has any hopes of surviving they most follow suit.

Definitely a wise move to go bigger but by the same token they cannot alienate the millions of users content with 3.5", therefore no alternative but to offer multiple models differentiated by size.

Personally I'm ready for a 5" iPhone and I believe the market is too.
 

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,254
5,966
Twin Cities Minnesota
Moderator Note.

The frequent use of the word Fanboy in this thread doesn't appear to be directed as an insult to any single user. That said, we suggest proper judgement when posting in this thread to avoid insults and trolling of any user or this community.

-------


As a user of this site, and Apple products, I do share some of the concerns as the OP. I feel as a corporation, a little bit more diversification would defiantly provide more options for this highly competitive landscape.
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
15,807
18,310
US
Can there still be some of us who think the 5 is too big and Apple's extension was a terrible blunder?

It may be time for Apple to offer more choice. Choice is good. Just as long as there's still a good, small handset.
yeah...because the larger iPhone 5 is not selling at all! It has not become the best selling smartphone in the US at all! Apples bottom line looks terrible! No cash reserves at all! I guess Apple is doomed! sarcasm.......
 

ECUSnare

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2011
130
23
"Fanboys" Lol.

You care too much about other opinions.
If the new generation is a phone you'd like to purchase, do it.
"all" of the fanboys are just trolls if they refer to a particular screen size.
I'm fine with my 3.5" display but I would buy the same phone with a 4.3 inch display for example.

These are my thoughts. Just goes to show how technology has become a part of our lives.
 

Agent-P

Contributor
Dec 5, 2009
2,502
23
The Tri-State Area
I've used quite a few different phones and personally for me the ideal screen size for a smartphone is 4.3" (with a 16:9 aspect ratio). IMO anything bigger than that is too big. But there are obviously plenty of people that like bigger screens since the GS3 is selling so well.
 

Bernard SG

macrumors 65816
Jul 3, 2010
1,354
7
yeah...because the larger iPhone 5 is not selling at all! It has not become the best selling smartphone in the US at all! Apples bottom line looks terrible! No cash reserves at all! I guess Apple is doomed! sarcasm.......

Exactly. And while big handsets do enjoy a certain commercial success, there's no evidence that the size of that specific demand is big enough to justify the launch of a bigger iPhone.
Personally, I'm not buying into that rumor of an "iPhone +". Apple already has got enough supply-chain struggles for the current product line-up so I find it very dubious that they would add a bigger iPhone to the complexity.
On the other hand, the low-cost iPhone for emerging markets, especially China & India, is much more plausible.
 

maliu

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2010
700
18
The Note is ridiculously big. I finally saw someone using one the other day and couldn't stop silently giggling. My phone has to be useful as a phone and be a carry able size. To each his/her own, but I have other larger devices when I need them.
 

Radiating

macrumors 65816
Dec 29, 2011
1,018
7
I hear the rumor mills predicting that the iPhone 6 is going to have a big display -- greater than 4.5 inches actually!

I've been saying for *years* that the iPhone's display has been too small. When I or a handful of others posted this here and elsewhere, we were laughed at by angry fanboys enthusiastically defending the choice of Apple to stick to a 3.5" display with some funny claims about human hand ergonomics that completely neglected variability in hand sizes, and then later adjusting their claims along the silly lines Apple to say that 4" on the iPhone 5 was as big as it could possibly be without compromising usability, because it was "only longer without being wider".

I (and a few others) just kept telling them to wait a few more years, that Apple had just become sluggish in its innovation, and that they'd eventually come around and go where the relatively free Android market did long time ago: to 4.5"+ displays. The fanboys just kept laughing this off.

Hell, I even gave up on Apple when the 4S came out, and later stuck to my move to Android when the 5 came out. This year I might finally be able to move back -- because even Apple eventually listens to their customers instead of their aged designer crowd.

But what, oh what, will all those fanboys say that so bravely defended the 3.5" display of the iPhone 1-4S -- against all reason? Will they buy up all stocks of small screen iPhones? Or will they happily embrace the "oversized" 5 incher? We shall see...

I like the size of the current iPhone. If they release a bigger one, I will buy the smaller one. I hope they shrink the bezel and up the screen size though. They can fit a 4.6" screen in the EXISTING frame.
 

irDigital0l

Guest
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
0
Whoever gets all of these first to what I feel works well...I will upgrade and buy from them.

Features (who's leading currently)
-Design quality (iOS)
-Tech and features (Android)
-Software (Android)
-User customization (Android)
-Media and apps (iOS)
-Ecosystem (iOS)
-Services (Android)
-Support and updates (iOS)

So if iPhone gains a larger display iOS would be 5 while Android would have 3.
 

DodgeV83

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2012
879
6
I'm amazed at how the demand for bigger phones simply doesn't seem to be abating.

I've always been of the opinion that anything bigger than 4.3" is/would be redundant on a smartphone but no, we heading deep into 5" territory and beyond.

If Apple has any hopes of surviving they most follow suit.

Definitely a wise move to go bigger but by the same token they cannot alienate the millions of users content with 3.5", therefore no alternative but to offer multiple models differentiated by size.

Personally I'm ready for a 5" iPhone and I believe the market is too.

  • According to Google's own data, large screened Android phones only take up 6.1% of all devices sold.
  • The iPhone outsells all large screened Android phones combined.
  • Last quarter the iPhone outsold all Android phones combined (of any size) in the U.S.
  • When the iPhone 5 was released, Apple's stock rose to the highest level of any stock in the history of stocks, in any market.
  • Last quarter, buoyed by the stark rise in iPhone sales, Apple had the best quarter of any technology company in history. The only company to ever have a better quarter, is an oil company.

I think it's quite clear that Apple knows this market better than anyone.
 

decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,122
7,170
Geneva
  • According to Google's own data, large screened Android phones only take up 6.1% of all devices sold.
  • The iPhone outsells all large screened Android phones combined.
  • Last quarter the iPhone outsold all Android phones combined (of any size) in the U.S.
  • When the iPhone 5 was released, Apple's stock rose to the highest level of any stock in the history of stocks, in any market.
  • Last quarter, buoyed by the stark rise in iPhone sales, Apple had the best quarter of any technology company in history. The only company to ever have a better quarter, is an oil company.

I think it's quite clear that Apple knows this market better than anyone.

Oops more facts. I love the iPhone 5 but it is a bit of a pain for me to hit some top icons using one hand. I really don't see getting bigger than say 5 inches. Even the s3 which I like is a bit on the large size. Well YMMV.
 

AFDoc

Suspended
Jun 29, 2012
2,864
629
Colorado Springs USA for now
OP your post is very over dramatic.......

I wold be more than happy to buy a larger iPhone. I guess the limit for me would be right around 5". Not saying I wouldn't buy bigger but think that may be the sweet spot.
 
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