Mockups of a 4.94-Inch 'iPhone Plus' Show Why a Larger iPhone Might Make Sense

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Bigger Pixels are Better for Some - just ask the buyers of the hot selling XL series handheld consoles from Nintendo.

Some of the text on a 4s looks to me like the title of this post reply.

Making a larger phone in non-retina mode, on same resolution, but just bigger pixels, _could_ help those of us with bad eyes. Yes, retina is amazing for those of you with good eyesight. For the rest, MANY pages and apps can't be adjusted from their unreadable 6pt font sizes. This includes Apples apps.

Annoying portrait-only lock screen makes me want bigger targets on the screen, too. Those of you with no password or PIN = 1111 aren't bothered by this I'm sure. However, those of us that use the password security and have to answer our phones at 3am with bleary eyes, would like larger targets.

Maybe when Jony Ives gets bifocals.

isopepper said:

Bigger Pixels are Better for Some - just ask the buyers of the hot selling XL series handheld consoles from Nintendo.

Some of the text on a 4s looks to me like the title of this post reply.

Making a larger phone in non-retina mode, on same resolution, but just bigger pixels, _could_ help those of us with bad eyes. Yes, retina is amazing for those of you with good eyesight. For the rest, MANY pages and apps can't be adjusted from their unreadable 6pt font sizes. This includes Apples apps.

Annoying portrait-only lock screen makes me want bigger targets on the screen, too. Those of you with no password or PIN = 1111 aren't bothered by this I'm sure. However, those of us that use the password security and have to answer our phones at 3am with bleary eyes, would like larger targets.

Maybe when Jony Ives gets bifocals.

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You know what, though? It always amazed me that Steve Jobs had such a high number negative diopter himself. You'd have thought that if anybody would've understood the advantage of a Large Fonts option along with a high resolution, it'd have been him.

I actually had to have a special pair of glasses made for my perfectly marvelous 27" iMac because there was no easy way to get a "Large Fonts" option going with it. Unfortunately, even in 2013, this is something that Windows is better at.

Insofar as the hand held devices are concerned, I love the high resolution, but I would prefer the ability to set a logical and scalable large font for older people!

iGrip said:

Why would anybody want such a tiny screen? That sounds like a niche product to me - something that could get maybe 10% of the market, tops.

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Yeah because the iPhone is such a niche product... Not sure if serious?

dkersten said:

Would only be interested if the resolution was higher than the iPhone 5. Otherwise there are no advantages to a larger screen

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Of course there are. The job of a smartphone's screen is not displaying as many pixels as possible. It's to convey information and act as a touch UI.

A larger screen can show more information. Smaller point size fonts are more legible, therefore you can fit more text on screen.

A larger screen can have bigger UI widgets, improving ease of accuracy and therefore speed of use.

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adder7712 said:

I agree. It has been established that there is a growing demand for oversized phones.

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I want an "oversized" phone, because it's not really a phone. I make maybe one call a week.

It's a portable, touch-based, pocket computer. It can stand to be bigger than my 4S currently is, which sometimes gets lost in my pocket.

This would actually enable me to purchase an iPhone over the larger Android competitors! I hope this happens.

Why not shrink down iPad mini resolution instead?

Why don't Apple shrink down the iPad mini resolution instead? 768 x 1024 on a 5 inch screen would be retina, no? Instant compatibility with all iPad apps

unigolyn said:

Of course there are. The job of a smartphone's screen is not displaying as many pixels as possible. It's to convey information and act as a touch UI.

A larger screen can show more information. Smaller point size fonts are more legible, therefore you can fit more text on screen.

A larger screen can have bigger UI widgets, improving ease of accuracy and therefore speed of use.

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Could be wrong here but wouldn't a larger screen with the same resolution just stretch the information on the display, not display more information?

Hephaestus said:

No it won't, why would it have a smaller top and bottom bezel? All they need to do is widen the dimensions a little to stop it from being so ridiculously narrow.

When you screenshot the iPhone 5 and put the image next to an iPhone 4 screenshot, it is clear as day that the image is far too narrow. I have never seen a display that looks so out of proportion, so yes.. suggesting otherwise is denial.

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I'm not sure the word "proportion" means what you think it means. Since you mentioned screenshot, I can assume you're talking about the screen itself. Most high end smartphones on the market today, other than pre-iPhone 5 iPhones, have screens with the same "proportions" (16:9). The bezel around the screen can change the overall proportions of the device obviously, but most screens are the same. So I'm guessing if Apple were to increase the size of the iPhone again, they would maintain the screen proportions and possibly, as stated in the article, just trim from the top and bottom bezel.

I don't think "denial" is involved in simply understanding that a 16:9 X has the same proportions as a 16:9 Y, but suit yourself.

appleguy123 said:

I would probably buy this phone. Depends on how much "quality" is lost because of the lower Resolution(PPI).

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PPI isn't the same thing as resolution. If they increase the screen size, it's unlikely they wouldn't raise the res while keeping the PPI the same. It would be identical technology, just a larger screen lol...

HishamAkhtar said:

Why don't they make the new iPhone with the retina iPad's resolution on a 5 inch screen?

2048 x 1536 resolution with a 512 PPI would be sick.

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A stupid suggestion for many reasons, not the least of which being the dimensions of the iPhone are not 4:3.... they're 16:9 (4:2.25).

Also, 512 PPI is massive overkill and would just increase the price for absolutely no good reason.

TC03 said:

That's why Apple will quadruple the PPI, giving it 528 ppi. source

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That would be um.... a doubling of the current PPI.

Options are ok!

rorschach said:

I actually want a SMALLER iPhone. I'd like an option to have a 3.5" screen again. The only reason I upgraded to the iPhone 5 was the LTE. I've found the screen to be too big and almost unusable with one hand. The 3.5" was perfect.

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YES. Or well "YES" for many people. I think the "S" in the inevitable iPhone 5S release will refer to "sizes." Make a 3.5" 2:3 aspect ratio version of the iPhone again for the people that prefer that-- and using the design of the current 5, a 3.5" 5s would be freakin' tiny. Then continue to have the 4" 16:9, and add a 4.5" at 1280x720 to appease the larger handed set. I think I'd probably go for that one, but small medium and large seems like just the sort of simplicity Apple would go for. Also- the new resolution on the 4.5" wouldn't really be a huge deal, as vector items like fonts and whatnot would just scale properly, and more graphical apps would just scale up from the standard 4" iPhone-- and still be at about 300dpi (scaled to a perfectly matched 326dpi) until the developer refined them. So to be clear- I'm talking about 3.5" 960x640 (3:2 326dpi) "small," 4.0" 1136x640 (16:9 326dpi) "medium," and a 4.5" 1280x720 (16:9 326dpi) "large." Even if there are folks out there where 4.5" still isn't large enough, I think they'd be happy enough with 4.5" Or Maybe Apple will make a 5.0" 1440x810 (16:9 326dpi) on the large side to really differentiate. Sounds like a weird rez, but 1136x640 is pretty freaking weird too.

mikeorchard said:

That argument is invalid though, because Samsung don't offer a device with the same specifications as the S3 and Note 2 in a smaller size. You have no reference point to compare the sales figures. People buying the S3 and other large Android cannot be construed to mean that there is demand for large phones, because smaller iPhones are still selling by the millions too. It simply means that well specced Android phones are selling well, it just so happens that the best specced Android phones all have large screens. If Samsung made a 4" phone with the specs of the S3, I'm guessing it would sell equally as well.

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Are you saying there was nobody who bought S3 or Note 2 because iphone 5 was smaller than they prefer?

Do you have a reference point to compare the sales figures? Can we dare use your argument against your own? Can we say then that apple's iphone sold well because Android didn't make that size in top specs?
Can we say that if apple were to offer bigger screens, it would have made a dent in droid's sale figure?

There are clearly people who love bigger phones and for apple to not offer multiple size is just getting dumb. I have been talking to people about apple products for long time and people use to LOVE apple product. Enthusiasm is not as great as it used to be. Droid is legit threat and for apple to not learn things from them would be their biggest mistake.

Why is MacRumors even entertaining this idea... It will not happen. Not only is it entirely out of line with their current business plan. They won't continue to sell the original iPhone size, iPhone 5 size, this (iPhone Plus), iPad Mini and iPad. It would just be ridiculous. The lineup would be too cluttered and products would be competing with eachother instead of offering options. Right now it is very balanced: Two iPhone sizes, two iPad sizes. Not to mention, I sometimes feel like my iPhone 5 is a bit big - especially for a guy to keep in his pocket. I would not buy a larger phone - I would simply just get an iPad Mini. Which is exactly what their business motto is. Apple wants you to have a phone and an iPad. More sales = more profit. I can't really say its "evil" either. Personally I feel like the Samsung Galaxy S phone which my brother in law has tries to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none. It is a bit too large to be practical and comfortable for everyday use - and yet, not big enough to satisfy my tastes for pleasurable web-browsing as say - an iPad Mini, would accomplish.

IF they were to introduce a bigger iPhone - and this is just a big IF since this thread is indeed about that. It won't happen for at least 2 more years.

Also, Apple still has amazing growth - you can't just listen to all the propoganda put out about the company so that they can gain better (lower) per share cost of a profitable company.

Lastly, for those complaining that Apple isn't innovating, you're being a bit unrealistic. They entirely changed the mobile smartphone landscape - in a similar way to how Mercedes-Benz changed the transportation landscape when they first invented the gas powered automobile. You can argue that vehicles haven't changed much over the last few decades. Basically increasing speed and fuel efficiency - but otherwise remained the same. The smartphone industry is beginning to do the same. Offering larger storage capacity, faster speeds and better battery life. Introducing more modern technology when available.

There is not THAT much more you can do with a smartphone - and no one else in the industry is innovating more or less. Instead you should try to distinguish areas where Apple can repeat what they did with the smartphone. Many believe that this will be the TV industry - which would make sense - as their brand is heavily integrated in a modern household, and it would be the easiest market to overtake next from a logistic standpoint.

Either way - I'm dissappointed MacRumors is entertaining such ridiculous ideas. I'm even more shocked at the amount of people who read "rumors" or articles like this and take it as fact and are already saying they don't like Apple or are getting a Droid based on false statements that Apple isn't even carrying out...

mikeorchard said:

Yeah because the iPhone is such a niche product... Not sure if serious?

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What is the iPhone's current market share again?

Hephaestus said:

For one reason... the darn thing is way to narrow. The proportions are just wrong, anyone who says otherwise is in denial. It is far too narrow. As for the "one handed use" nonsense, it is just that.. nonsense.

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It is NOT nonsense. Apple has spent more money that you will make over your entire lifetime, just studying thumb lengths. Apple has invented the exact correct screen width which will allow the best User Experience known to modern man. It is NOT nonsense.

we might actually see something like this say.. the next next physical upgrade of iPhone. no way this is gonna happen in at least 2 years down the road.

HishamAkhtar said:

Why don't they make the new iPhone with the retina iPad's resolution on a 5 inch screen?

2048 x 1536 resolution with a 512 PPI would be sick.

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The point of that would be?

Unless you wear a pair of telescopes for glasses, the iPhone 4's 324PPi is more than enough & fulfils the purpose of pixel deviation.

Sy7ygy said:

The point of that would be?

Unless you wear a pair of telescopes for glasses, the iPhone 4's 324PPi is more than enough & fulfils the purpose of pixel deviation.

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Watching 1080p video and improved picture quality mainly.

dkersten said:

Could be wrong here but wouldn't a larger screen with the same resolution just stretch the information on the display, not display more information?

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Only if you don't specify screen size. The actual amount of pixels is not relevant to the physical size assigned to text.

(numbers randomly chosen to illustrate my point)

Let's say a 4S/5 can display an 8 point font at a legible size.

The quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog.

A hypothetical 5+ can display a 7 point font at a legible size.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

In each case the actual characters are 2mm high. The characters will be rendered at a higher resolution on the 4S/5, and will therefore consist of fewer pixels on the 5+. But if both are technically "retina", and the pixels aren't prominent, then the tradeoff is worth it.

HishamAkhtar said:

Watching 1080p video and improved picture quality mainly.

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But you will never notice the difference in resolution once you go beyond a certain pixel density. The iPhone's current density of 326ppi may or may not be at the threshold for all people in all situations, but certainly any display approaching 500ppi or more is far, far past it for everyone but Superman and The Fly.

The reason for the new 440ppi 1080p 5" screens showing up on phones now is largely marketing. Once the you grow to around 6" and up, that resolution begins to make more sense - well as much sense as a phone with 6" screen can make anyway (not that I am taking sides on that specific debate right now).

Another more salient reason for 1080p phones is that there is no true standard 16:9 resolution between 1920x1080 and 1280x720. So if you want to build a phone with iPhone-rivaling pixel density and a 16:9 screen larger than 4.5", then 1080p is a logical choice. I would argue that 1600x900 is probably a better target from a practical perspective being that it splits the difference between the two nicely and has shown up on laptops over the past three years or so. But I suppose it does not sound as sexy as 1920x1080, hence leading us back to my earlier point. There are of course standard 16x10 resolutions in this range like 1680x1050 and 1440x900, but 16:10 phones appear to be headed the way of 16:10 monitors.

mkoesel said:

But you will never notice the difference in resolution once you go beyond a certain pixel density. The iPhone's current density of 326ppi may or may not be at the threshold for all people in all situations, but certainly any display approaching 500ppi or more is far, far past it for everyone but Superman and The Fly.

The reason for the new 440ppi 1080p 5" screens showing up on phones now is largely marketing. Once the you grow to around 6" and up, that resolution begins to make more sense - well as much sense as a phone with 6" screen can make anyway (not that I am taking sides on that specific debate right now).

Another more salient reason for 1080p phones is that there is no true standard 16:9 resolution between 1920x1080 and 1280x720. So if you want to build a phone with iPhone-rivaling pixel density and a 16:9 screen larger than 4.5", then 1080p is a logical choice. I would argue that 1600x900 is probably a better target from a practical perspective being that it splits the difference between the two nicely and has shown up on laptops over the past three years or so. But I suppose it does not sound as sexy as 1920x1080, hence leading us back to my earlier point. There are of course standard 16x10 resolutions in this range like 1680x1050 and 1440x900, but 16:10 phones appear to be headed the way of 16:10 monitors.

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The reason I used the 500+ PPI was because Apple already has that standard of resolution for iPads so they could try and incorporate it into the iPhones.

Also I think there would definitely be a difference in watching a video on a 4.5-5 inch 1080p screen phone compared to the current iPhone 5. So no, I don't think it's all marketting.

Your example seems to have issues, or I've misunderstood you. If a point is defined as 1/72 of an inch (which is true to my knowledge), then a 7pt font and 8pt font with not display at the same size. The latter will appear slightly larger.

Assuming both devices you mention are properly aware of their hardware specifications (DPI), then there will be no difference in size between a font rendered at a specific number of points on the two devices. The only difference will be the quality of the text displayed. The theoretical large-screen iPhone Plus with its resolution plucked from an iPhone 5 will suffer in display quality vs. an iPhone 5 or vs. a second theoretical iPhone or other phone with a screen the same size as this iPhone Plus, but borrowing the iPhone 5's pixel density instead of its resolution.

unigolyn said:

Only if you don't specify screen size. The actual amount of pixels is not relevant to the physical size assigned to text.

(numbers randomly chosen to illustrate my point)

Let's say a 4S/5 can display an 8 point font at a legible size.

The quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog.

A hypothetical 5+ can display a 7 point font at a legible size.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

In each case the actual characters are 2mm high. The characters will be rendered at a higher resolution on the 4S/5, and will therefore consist of fewer pixels on the 5+. But if both are technically "retina", and the pixels aren't prominent, then the tradeoff is worth it.

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HishamAkhtar said:

The reason I used the 500+ PPI was because Apple already has that standard of resolution for iPads so they could try and incorporate it into the iPhones.

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Right, I understand how you arrived at your proposal. However the point the other poster and I are making is that this would not be a likely course of action for Apple (or anyone) because it would be a wasted investment. It would be a bit like taking a V8 engine from a pickup truck and shrinking it down in size and displacement to 2L for use in an economy car. The result would be much more expensive than just using a 2L four cylinder engine, and provide no benefit vs. the latter solution (well, other than an awesome sounding exhaust note, which is not going to make for a sound business case by itself for such a car).

Also I think there would definitely be a difference in watching a video on a 4.5-5 inch 1080p screen phone compared to the current iPhone 5. So no, I don't think it's all marketting.

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Well certainly there will be some difference since the screen you mention is larger than that on an iPhone 5. So you'll get a bigger image at the same viewing distance.

However, whether you choose to believe it or not, there would in fact be no discernable difference between watching a video on a 4.5 or 5 inch screen (or any size screen for that matter) that has a 440 ppi pixel density vs. one that has, say a ~330 pixel density like an iPhone does. The reason for this is because the human eye simply cannot make the distinction once pixels are below a certain size. Similarly, we could increase the pixel density from 440 ppi, to 550 ppi, to 660 ppi, etc, and you would continue to see no difference rather than see a better and better image as more and more pixels were added. And this is true even if the source material (the video) was shot at the super-duper resolutions that resulted from these high pixel densities.

I should add here that, two screens of equal size and resolution won't necessarily have the same image quality. The reason for this is that other factors such as display technology, contrast ratio, and brightness have as much if not greater effect than those first two properties.

jvmxtra said:

Are you saying there was nobody who bought S3 or Note 2 because iphone 5 was smaller than they prefer?

Do you have a reference point to compare the sales figures? Can we dare use your argument against your own? Can we say then that apple's iphone sold well because Android didn't make that size in top specs?
Can we say that if apple were to offer bigger screens, it would have made a dent in droid's sale figure?

There are clearly people who love bigger phones and for apple to not offer multiple size is just getting dumb. I have been talking to people about apple products for long time and people use to LOVE apple product. Enthusiasm is not as great as it used to be. Droid is legit threat and for apple to not learn things from them would be their biggest mistake.

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What? That's a redundant argument because it makes the same point. Obviously some people bought those bigger phones because they wanted a bigger phone, but to suggest that the size of the phone is the sole reason for their success is just incorrect posturing. All of those things you're listing are possible scenarios but they have no relevance on the point I was making about a logical argument.

Your last point is fine and dandy but the opposite can equally be said judging from the success of the 3.5-4" iPhones. The rest of what you're saying is just hyperbole.

iGrip said:

What is the iPhone's current market share again?

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Errr... over 50% in the US and roughly 20% worldwide? Are you being stupid on purpose?

HishamAkhtar said:

Watching 1080p video and improved picture quality mainly.

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Sure, but 1080p resolution is intended for larger monitors sizing 23" 16:9 + (Yes, this now starts at 21.5" with the recent obsession with DPI).

Apple's best bet is to introduce a true 1280x720, 16:9 ratio iPhone that is the standard - this doesn't need to be any larger than 4".

If people want to watch movies; this device is perfectly fine. If you want to view larger movies, the iPad Mini is the option (albeit with the impending retina display).

A phone is supposed to be a ultra-portable, pocket sized device, not a tablet which TBH I concede 5" as.

Sy7ygy said:

Apple's best bet is to introduce a true 1280x720, 16:9 ratio iPhone that is the standard - this doesn't need to be any larger than 4".

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That would be reasonable, but I think a more likely approach to get to 1280x720 is to stick with the current 326 PPI. It works out to a 4.5" screen which is still very reasonable.

A phone is supposed to be a ultra-portable, pocket sized device, not a tablet which TBH I concede 5" as.

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I agree with you that a phone needs to stay at or below a certain size in order to maintain its pocketability. There is obviously a market for larger phones than that for those who apparently wear pants with much larger pockets than I am accustomed to on a normal basis or who do not pocket their phones (women for example, who may likely use a purse).

That being said, it is theoretically possible to build a phone very close to the size of today's iPhone with a 5" display by shrinking the bezel down to the bare minimum. In all liklihood such phones will arrive at some point this decade both from Apple and from others. But in the meantime, I am willing to stick with whatever the biggest screen size that is feasible today without increasing the size of the device (by other than some negligible amount).

However, once you get above 5" something must obviously give, and since that we already are seeing phones with > 6" screens it is clear the demand for incrementally larger screens is still there. It is probable that, at some point Apple will enter the market, but I suspect they'll have something more competitive to offer than a standard iPhone blown up 25%.