Apple's 4.8-Inch iPhone 6 Reportedly Not Launching Until Mid-2014

Patriot24 said:

I'm not sure that anyone thought the iPhone 6 was coming this year anyway? As far as I know, the general consensus has long pointed to 5s.

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I was really starting to believe the rumors about 3 new iPhones this year.
This made the most sense to me. They can't afford to lose ground in the emerging markets. They need a more affordable and powerful phone to come out soon. They also need one with a 5 inch display for all of the larger handed people.

imgonephishin said:

I've long been tired of the "Apple better do X quickly or they'll miss the opportunity forever." (see: blu-ray, 3G for the iPhone, etc.)

So I won't go so far as to say, "THEY NEED A BIGGER SCREEN OR THE COMPANY WILL DIE."

But they need to do something. iOS is getting desperately long-in-tooth. Aside from a slightly longer screen, very little has changed about the hardware in 3+ years now. I'm not counting them out, but I starting to get a little antsy.

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And that's just where they want us.

lozpop said:

In the past, yes. Not now. A minor upgrade after a year and a new iPhone (maybe) after 2 year? Right now it's like a suicide.

They have already accelerated launching the 4th generation iPad after six months.

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He does have a valid point there.

KindredMAC said:

Promptly filed in the "No S#¡t, Sherlock" category in the filing cabinet...

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You may have to purge that one here pretty soon.

Not interested in a 4.8" phone whether it's an iPhone or an Android. I won't be buying it. The 4" iPhone is uncomfortable enough in my pocket if it sits just right, and after having a 4.2" Android I certainly do not want anything larger than that. I want my phone to be portable. I want to easily take it everywhere with me, not have to slip it in a sleeve or use a smart cover to protect a giant expanse of glass. Does anyone even make a cellphone smaller than 4" anymore? I remember before the iPhone it was hard enough to find a candybar style phone here in the US. Stupid flip phone mania had taken over. I think we've reached the same thing now with giant phones/mini tablets to hold up against our ears.

barkomatic said:

If true, I think that mid-2014 is a little late to introduce a revamped iOS. Android and other mobile operating systems are going to start to trounce iOS pretty badly starting later this year.

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You should remember that the Android that Google releases today will be the Android that people use next year!

55% of Android devices are running versions older that are older than the iPhone 4S, like Gingerbread.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (1) or newer is running on only 13.6% of devices and only 1.4% are running the newest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2.

So whatever new and maybe cool feature Google releases with Android 5 - the majority of users won't be using those features before summer 2014, a few weeks/months before iOS 8.

And a week after iOS 8, there are probably 50% of iOS devices running that version.


NEVER ignore the slow adoption rate of Android versions when comparing something to iOS.

The self-driving car als also a great feature by Google - but the adoption rate in the real world is low, that's why nobody says that he won't buy a Mercedes now, because he wants wait for the Google car.

NoNothing said:

"We think Apple plans to re-architect iOS to utilize more cores and better compete with Samsung."

iOS is already heavily multi-threaded as are most of the apps I write thanks to GCD making it brain dead simple.

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You're dealing with analysts here. The only one I've seen correct in 2012 was that Ming Ku Chuo(I might have misspelt it) guy. He successfully predicted the Apple 2012 roadmap. So I would only trust his input.

Especially when this analyst makes obviously misinformed comments.

SILen(e said:

NEVER ignore the slow adoption rate of Android versions when comparing something to iOS.

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Thank you! people get too carried away with press releases and media hype.

The Wedge said:

yea well next they'll be saying, "through observations we have realized that many people use their phones with two hands and we have decided to make a phone more comfortable for them. We have also improved iOS to accomodate one handed use with a bigger screen."

The current screen size is stupid. a taller screen. That's why I still have a 4s and will keep it until a proper larger screen and OS is implemented.

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So what you want is a bigger screen but yet you refuse to use a bigger screen, precisely because it's a bigger screen?

William Gates said:

App processor? What is this? I don't even...

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It's like a BLAST PROCESSOR.

But more Appy and less Blasty.

Better at competing with Samsung? Competing at what? Who can run the Xerox faster?

pgiguere1 said:

Releasing a separate giant iPhone would be one thing, but I sure hope it doesn't completely replaces the standard iPhone.

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I'm on the same boat as you here. I was okay with the 4" iPhone 5, but anything bigger than that really doesn't interest me.

el-John-o said:

So the DAY after Tim Cook says Apple feels that their choice to deliberately stay away from OLED displays, claiming their displays are superior, the 'analysts' say they are going to shift to OLED?

Not commenting on whether or not I personally want OLED, but, Tim Cook did JUST cite OLED displays as one of the shortcomings of the competition, evidently he and Apples engineering team finds them inferior to the type of displays Apple is currently using (IPS)

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OLED is still bleeding edge tech. Other companies managed to use a tech which isn't ready for the real world, so they score poorly with display reviews by experts. If an OLED display has the brightness and viewing angles of the IPS panel, and is properly calibrated, and doesn't reduce battery life, then it's probably going to be a truly remarkable display. Sadly, this technology isn't there yet.(Oh, and they should also sort out the color wearing out and burn-ins)

The comments about 8 cores and "rearchitecting the OS" for more cores to better complete with Samsung suggest that this guy is an imbecile who doesn't understand Apple (or software) at all.

I don't believe anything this guy says

MacRumors said:

.Misek first noted the existence of 4.8-inch iPhone prototypes in December, but last month indicated that he was seeing no further signs of the device.

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prototypes just means they made a few for testing. it doesn't equal that they will be a current or future product.

Take advantage of multiple cores to better compete with Samsung?? Their dual core A6 is already faster than Samsung's quadcore.

And I think everyone and their mom already predicted that iPhone would make its way to Sprint and t-mobile.

imgonephishin said:

But they need to do something. iOS is getting desperately long-in-tooth. Aside from a slightly longer screen, very little has changed about the hardware in 3+ years now. I'm not counting them out, but I starting to get a little antsy.

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You're a geek, of course you are getting antsy. Geeks want everything to be new and fresh and totally magically awesome with every release.

Apple doesn't design for geeks, especially with their devices. The iphone etc are for the non geeks and they generally doesn't want to relearn all the time. They love that the UI doesn't really change, because change scares them. They don't care about these 'baby step' hardware changes because they aren't doing anything insane with their tech anyway. So to them nothing is long-in-tooth or outdated so long as it works

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web500sjc said:

interesting that he has the iphone being moved back to the June product slot...

my question is, What product will be launched in the spring? -that used to be the ipads domain- but now that is up in the air.

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Where's the law that says there has to be something? Some of the analysts seem to think such a thing exists and are trying to 'sources say' a guess at what but they would be wrong.

Apple may not be releasing anything this spring.

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ccmovies said:

Wait, since a new version of iOS usually launches along side a new iPhone, maybe we'll see a sneak peak and a developer release during the rumored TV media even in March. Right?

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Not if Apple sticks to recent history which is to show both the iOS preview and Mac OS preview at WWDC (an event created for developers) which is typically in June.

if Apple was going to shift WWDC to March we likely would have heard officially by now so developers could make plans to attend.

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Bahroo said:

Is that actually Apples roadmap? Or is that just a guest by this guy Jeff

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If it is said by an Apple employee then it is the roadmap. Not a "sources within" said but a real press release or on a stage with names said.

Anything else by anyone, especially an analyst, is a guess.

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iisdan said:

How many times does apple need to say they're not making it before people will finally get the hint?

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They will never get the hint. They just cite all the times that Steve Jobs said no to something and then it happened. Like the video ipod etc.

Judgement Day will come and the machines will take over the world and the analysts etc will still be saying that Apple is working on a real TV, bigger screen iPhones etc.

SILen(e said:

That man has NO clue.

A 4.8 inch display with the resolution of the iPhone 5 would have a DPI of 271 - while the Retina iPad has a DPI of 264 DPI.

How would that make sense to go 4.8 inches and create a new display when instead you could re-use the display of the iPad 4 (or more likely the improved/thinner iPad 5 display)?

When John Gruber and Marco Arment are argumenting about larger displays, they do that by stating information about how a larger display could be made possible in a way thats good for developers and Apple's supply chain.

Thats why the post by Marco Arment about an iPhone Plus AS AN ADDITIONAL SIZE (not replacing the 4" size, so that the customer can choose between iPhone 6 4" and iPhone Plus) with a display size of 4.94" is much more believable than the information by Misek.

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I read both Gruber's and Marco's posts and they both make very good points. My only concern is releasing a 264ppi 4.94" phone doesn't look too good for Apple when most competing Android devices will have 5" 1080p 440ppi screens.

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tann said:

I called mid 2014 literally ages ago!

2013 is far too soon for a larger phone. 2014 gives Ive well over a year to change up iOS for the bigger screen and allows them to better program it to run better on more cores as well.

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Makes sense. I'm inclined to agree with this.

iPusch said:

I can't understand why they would jump to 4.8"
4 generations on 3.5"
and only two on 4" that would be very disappointing...
Hope devs will keep on developing for 4" then

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It wont be a substitute... It is meant to expand the line to 3 sizes..
3.5. 4 and 4.5/8.

Honest/Realistic opinion of mine is that the screen size will stay the same. Here is why. First off, they just introduced a new screen size and most developers are not yet on board with it (heck there are non-retina apps in the app store to this day). 2nd, they would need to increase the pixel count to keep that all important "retina" display and the only way to do it is if they double the pixels. 3rd, they will give up their edge as the only company that makes high end phones with one hand usability. Plus, if they do keep the same screen size, they can actually reduce the size of the phone (new/upcoming screen tech will allow smaller side bezels) without decreasing the screen size and improve the one hand usability. The iPhone 5 is 58.6mm wide and that could be reduced/improved to be under 55mm which would go a long way in one handed usability. Also, since iPad 5 is pretty much confirmed to be smaller in "ALL 3" dimensions, iPhone 6 will probably follow the same trend. Lets be honest, it is a bit more difficult to get to that sleep/wake button COMFORTABLY, and it is even more difficult to reach the notification bar with your thumb (I'm 5'11 with average or slightly bigger hands). BTW, for anyone worried about battery life, a quick google search about A53 ARM architecture and 20nm processors will show you that in 2014 all of our battery woes will be over.

unobtainium said:

This is slightly off-topic but relates to Misek's prediction of a new iPad mini coming in the fall. Everyone presumes that the iPad mini 2 will have a retina display, but my question is this: how are they gonna cram a retina display in that tiny form factor without adding a lot of bulk for battery and backlight? They still haven't pulled it off even in the larger iPad, which gained a considerable amount of bulk thanks to retina.

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Stop actually thinking and just go with it.

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SILen(e said:

That man has NO clue.

A 4.8 inch display with the resolution of the iPhone 5 would have a DPI of 271 - while the Retina iPad has a DPI of 264 DPI.

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Remember that the PPI for Retina is dependent on the distance of the item from the eye. So this 271 wouldn't be an issue if the distance of use for the device is basically the same as the iPad, rather than the iPhone (which is assumed to be held about 6 inches closer than the iPad thus the higher PPI needed)

Anybody know this guys track record?

lozpop said:

They have already accelerated launching the 4th generation iPad after six months.

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But was that a shift to a six month cycle or a one off shortening to switch the cycle to the fall. Rather than repeat the PR grumblings that occurred when they did the same shift with the iphones by delaying release for another 4-5 months

Can't wait. Might even think about switching back. I'm sure I'll be able to get one on launch day since there are so many people here who laugh at the idea of anything larger than 3.5 oops I mean 4" phone and their tiny hands that can't possibly operate a phone that's larger.

I'm also looking forward to more posts about how Apple doesn't follow the market - they lead it.

ETA: "Tim Cook: For iPhones, The Experience Is Key, Not Just a Larger Screen" was a headline.

Translation - We're going to have a larger phone. And people will no doubt talk about how we were slow in getting to this size. But I am setting the stage now to explain that this is about the experience - not screen size. We're not following other phones...

SILen(e said:

You should remember that the Android that Google releases today will be the Android that people use next year!

55% of Android devices are running versions older that are older than the iPhone 4S, like Gingerbread.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (1) or newer is running on only 13.6% of devices and only 1.4% are running the newest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2.

So whatever new and maybe cool feature Google releases with Android 5 - the majority of users won't be using those features before summer 2014, a few weeks/months before iOS 8.

And a week after iOS 8, there are probably 50% of iOS devices running that version.


NEVER ignore the slow adoption rate of Android versions when comparing something to iOS.

The self-driving car als also a great feature by Google - but the adoption rate in the real world is low, that's why nobody says that he won't buy a Mercedes now, because he wants wait for the Google car.

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I won't argue with your statistics. However, the version of Android and iOS that matters is the one that is available when users decide to upgrade. 13.6% of all Android devices is the minority, but it represents the majority of new handsets available in stores and that will increase in the next few months. It's usually the latest Android OS that is competing with the latest version of iOS when its upgrade time.

NoNothing said:

"We think Apple plans to re-architect iOS to utilize more cores and better compete with Samsung."

iOS is already heavily multi-threaded as are most of the apps I write thanks to GCD making it brain dead simple.

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That's right, this quote really demonstrate that this "analyst" is just making it up. Multithreading is really where Apple is miles ahead of everyone else.