Apple Considering 4.7" and 5.7" Screens for 2014 iPhone Models, iPhone 5S and Low-Cost iPhone Due in September

[thehustleman]

4" IP5 is just weird. 3,5" perfect size for a small portable device.
Those who want larger screens actually want small portable computers. It's a marketing thing anyway... phone, tablet, ultrabook, less and less difference every year.

Here's what I'd do:

iPhone nano 3,5"
iPhone mini 4"
iPhone 4.5"

iPad nano ~6" (with phone option)
iPad mini ~8"
iPad ~10"
iPad pro ~12" (MBA11 without keyboard with iOS/OSX mix)

Maybe too many products for Apple's taste, but that's what they have/had in iPod and Mac - mature product lines.

That's a great product lineup.

If Apple wanted to please customers instead of telling them what to like, they would do this. It's brilliant.

You want a tiny iphone? Get it.
You want a big screen iphone? Get it.
It's something for everyone

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I do know what I'm talking about, and no I don't wear skinny jeans.

I tried a friends S4 in my pocket, and for me it wasn't comfortable in my pocket, especially when sitting down.

I have to agree with him, men's pockets aren't small.

I wear dress pants to work and my Galaxy s III with an Otterbox fits very comfortably, as does my coworkers note 2

 

[DMH3006]

That's a great product lineup.

If Apple wanted to please customers instead of telling them what to like, they would do this. It's brilliant.

You want a tiny iphone? Get it.
You want a big screen iphone? Get it.
It's something for everyone

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I have to agree with him, men's pockets aren't small.

I wear dress pants to work and my Galaxy s III with an Otterbox fits very comfortably, as does my coworkers note 2

It's a great lineup? really?
producing 3 iPhones and 4 ipads is a good lineup? i'd like to see you shuffle those manufacturing plants for all of those devices. what features would a the smaller versions not get? would they be significantly lower powered versions of the taller siblings? how would you differentiate them? would developers have to focused on all of them?
Sounds good as far as options but terrible in terms of feasibility.

 

[blitzer09x87]

4.7 inches would be awesome, 5.7 inches would be good if the put a stylus with it. apple should make a bigger iphone, all of the iphone users are eager to see one.

 

[Xiroteus]

It's a great lineup? really?
producing 3 iPhones and 4 ipads is a good lineup? i'd like to see you shuffle those manufacturing plants for all of those devices. what features would a the smaller versions not get? would they be significantly lower powered versions of the taller siblings? how would you differentiate them? would developers have to focused on all of them?
Sounds good as far as options but terrible in terms of feasibility.

Options are good, however that would be too many for Apple, two phones and two iPads would likely be the limit.

 

[SteveCarriere]

apple should make a bigger iphone, all of the iphone users are eager to see one.

I'm not. I'm an iPhone user.
I'm not even convinced about the size of the 5. I like my 4. Small, fits in pockets and hand. Perfect.

I will admit that I don't use my phone as a phone nearly as much as I use it for other stuff. I'd be happy with an iPad mini if it had phone functionality.

I know, I wish I could have my cake and eat it, too.

 

[thehustleman]

It's a great lineup? really?
producing 3 iPhones and 4 ipads is a good lineup? i'd like to see you shuffle those manufacturing plants for all of those devices. what features would a the smaller versions not get? would they be significantly lower powered versions of the taller siblings? how would you differentiate them? would developers have to focused on all of them?
Sounds good as far as options but terrible in terms of feasibility.

Of course is great, and no it wouldn't be low powered versions, they'd all be the same except for screen size.

They'd all get the same features

Why differentiate them by anything more than screen size? That's the whole point, people obviously want larger screen sizes or this issue wouldn't keep coming up.

And as far as supporting them, make the app for the larger screen and the smaller screens can scale it down

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

I hope they are available in multiple colors like blue. The whole black and white color scheme is beyond boring.

 

[BSben]

I hope they are available in multiple colors like blue. The whole black and white color scheme is beyond boring.

Most people have their phone in a case anyway, so the colour of the phone hardly shows at all. I wouldn't mind if they would introduce other colours, but I am perfectly happy with black and white.

 

[thehustleman]

Most people have their phone in a case anyway, so the colour of the phone hardly shows at all. I wouldn't mind if they would introduce other colours, but I am perfectly happy with black and white.

I'd like to see a black and silver.

That would look great

 

[BSben]

There is a problem with too many screen options. Here in the UK we have the lovely BBC iPlayer app. Every time the app gets updated the Android fans are angry because the iPlayer app for iOS is far better than the Android one.
The BBC issued a statement on the issue, saying that it is much easier to create an app that runs perfectly on iOS (due to small selection of hardware) than it is for Android. The reason is the old issue of fragmentation. Different screens, different processors, different resolutions etc
A few weeks ago a friend and I wanted to watch a live event on the BBC iPlayer. I started the app(iOS), and my friend was starting his (Android). I was watching within about 30 seconds, he was fiddling with settings etc and eventually gave up.
As much as it would be nice to have loads of options, there are serious problems with it at the moment. I hope that Apple makes the right decisions and makes sure that we (iOS users) get the best possible experience.

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I'd like to see a black and silver.

That would look great

Okay, you have a point there...

 

[T-Rez]

Disturbing

This is very disturbing news indeed. One of the great things about the iphone is how mobile and easy to use it is. I'm gonna get a 5s before the iphone balloons in size.

 

[gnasher729]

MAN you guys are butt hurt about that statement.

Some people posting on MacRumors are professional software developers. Some others are either kids, or have the mentality of kids. "Butt hurt" sounds like a kid trying to impress his friends.

 

[Toltepeceno]

That's a great product lineup.

If Apple wanted to please customers instead of telling them what to like, they would do this. It's brilliant.

You want a tiny iphone? Get it.
You want a big screen iphone? Get it.
It's something for everyone

----------



I have to agree with him, men's pockets aren't small.

I wear dress pants to work and my Galaxy s III with an Otterbox fits very comfortably, as does my coworkers note 2

I agree with this whole post, especially the part about pockets. People are either exaggerating or wear tiny pants. I have a 4.5" phone and my wallet is MUCH larger and I can carry in in either my rear or front pocket easily. I'm curious where these tiny pocket pants are coming from.

 

[jimbobb24]

I'm really glad that Apple is taking notes and giving what the consumers want.

First they've adopted Android's software with the iOS 7 and now they're adopting the hardware portion.

Google has Apple's full attention now, which is a good thing. Losing market share will do that to a company

How did stuff like this pass into the common consciousness. Apple is killing it in profits. It's not even close. They now just lack someone with direction so they are doing what all the companies that aren't killing it do - throw everything at the wall and hope it sticks. Maybe they want to a low end company as well. But consumers clearly want what apple has. Some people do want something else - but clearly a giant proportion of people who actually are willing to pay for things like what apple has.

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When jobs was with us, apple had been company producing premium, unique and niche products. Selling at the highest proce tags. Now, they want to integrate into third world thus sacrificing quality and being the unique, rebellious boy of the sector.

I want the old apple to be back.

I agree except they were not niche in the iPod and iPhone they were - and are fabulously successful. But now they lack vision and so if they see phones selling well from competitors instead of thinking about why they might jump to a lazy reason like size. But if they make phones of different sizes to please everyone that is fine with me, but if all I have left to choose from is oversized freak phones I will be sad.

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Two reasons why fanboys are against bigger screens:

1. Steve Jobs said so

2. Android phones have them

There could never be any other reason, right? Like people actually think they are too big? Ugly. A hassle. Who knows. I think Apple should make a bigger phone and a beautiful small iPhone. But sadly they will not. They will just make one big phone just like you cannot change the dang icons on iOS. I will be stuck using my perfect 4S forever.

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The argument that Android users will move to Apple if they bring out a bigger phone is just incorrect. From my Android friends they like the bigger screen, agreed, but they like the control and customisation of Android, the ability to add custom ROMs etc, and mainly the cost of the phones. If Apple brought out a bigger screen it would not have these attributes and so will only really effect some users, by far not all.

Chasing the 5% of people who want this is a waste of time. My mom just got an iPhone. She barely uses a 1/10 of the basic features. Putting custom ROMs? That is a tiny market even on android. Most people get an android phone because they are cheap. Most people that have an android don't even use them as smartphones as evidenced by the fact idevices still represent more web traffic despite being a smaller market.

 

[Drag'nGT]

I will upgrade to one so fast it'll make your head spin. But 4.7" is probably plenty big, looking at and playing with the Samsung phones around that size.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I agree with this whole post, especially the part about pockets. People are either exaggerating or wear tiny pants. I have a 4.5" phone and my wallet is MUCH larger and I can carry in in either my rear or front pocket easily. I'm curious where these tiny pocket pants are coming from.

Hipsters I guess. But seriously speaking I am there with you as well. I've fit an S3, Note II, and an iPhone 4s into my pant pockets easily. There's a lot of weight there of course, so I was happy to give back my wife's phones, but the garbage about not fitting into one's hands or pockets is just that . . . garbage.

The argument that Android users will move to Apple if they bring out a bigger phone is just incorrect. From my Android friends they like the bigger screen, agreed, but they like the control and customisation of Android, the ability to add custom ROMs etc, and mainly the cost of the phones. If Apple brought out a bigger screen it would not have these attributes and so will only really effect some users, by far not all.

I agree with this as well. While I may take another, deeper look at iOS and an iPhone once a 5.7" screen comes, it's not like I ever left Apple's handsets behind because of the tiny screens. At the time iOS just didn't have the features I wanted. It still doesn't, and a bigger phone won't change that.

While I do miss the ecosystem, especially since everything else in my home and office is Apple, I still need a phone that can perform for what I do.

 

[thehustleman]

Most people get an android phone because they are cheap.

Wrong.

Iphone 5 - 200
Galaxy S4 - 250 (-50$ mir)

Msrp
Iphone 5 - 650
Galaxy S4 - 699.99


Plus most good Android phones enter the market at 200, same price as apple.


People just pick Android because it offers more functionality

 

[riverpoet]

Plus most good Android phones enter the market at 200, same price as apple.


People just pick Android because it offers more functionality

Let me add to jimbobb24's statement...

Most of the people get Android phones because they are cheap.

Some of the people get Android phones because they think "Android is free" equals all apps are free or have heard finding and installing pirated apps is as easy or even easier as in Windows.

Windows-hating open-source and Linux lovers plus some geeks get Android phones because they feel powerful being able to fully customize it, mess with it, or enjoy gimmicky no-real-world-use functionality. Or think Google is kind while Apple is a snob-loving money stealing devil.

Big screen iPhone or not, Android will win the market share game because Microsoft was late in the game and did not execute well (wasn't vertically integrated enough, still isn't). Apple is, well, just being Apple, enjoying high profits with low market share. When market gets saturated, Apple will simply move to another, more profitable product category.

 

[cheesyappleuser]

Android is essentially made for one handed use. Note 2 has one handed mode that even makes the keyboard smaller and shifts to the right or left.

I bet it is a brilliant design.

 

[Solomani]

4,7" is too big already, 5,7" is ridiculous for a phone.

Yeah. I could imagine a 4.5" to 4.7" inch iPhone. That size is still plausible for something Apple would consider.


But a 5.7" iPhone?! SJ would be rolling in his grave. I call BS on this rumor.

 

[cheesyappleuser]

A bigger iPhone isn't necessarily a bad thing.
What surely is a bad thing is a bigger iPhone while discontinuing the current form factor.

Personally - as most Apple users do - I think large phone screens look ridiculous and gone over the edge - at this pace we'll see 7" phones in a near future. I like having a smaller phone so I can actually use it as a phone, therefore with the needed portability.

But there are people who like larger screens. One significant problem here is a possible device lineup fragmentation, because the current iPhone plus the "cheaper" iPhone that will arrive soon enough, plus a possible larger-screened iPhone would create a much larger fragmentation than what we use to see in Apple products. I don't think that's going to happen, because no matter what, Apple is still Apple.

 

[OnkelUhu]

has anyone mentioned screen resolution? full HD?

I haven't read all 500 or so comments in this thread, so forgive me if I'm bringing something up that's already been discussed.

The actual size of the screen is less important to me than its resolution, by which I mean its dimensions in pixels. I want an iPhone with a full-HD (1920-by-1080-pixel) screen, which is what the Samsung Galaxy S4 has. One nice thing about that size is that it is just less than 2 Mebipixels, which I suspect is a technical advantage of sorts. (Mebi- is a prefix meaning 2^20 or 1048576, so 2 Mebipixels is 2097152 pixels.) If it's a problem that 1080 is not a multiple of 16, just extending it to 1088 solves the problem, while still keeping the pixel to count just under 2 Mebipixels (and changing the aspect ratio very slightly from 16:9 to 30:17).

Now the size of the screen is not unimportant. Too small and all those pixels start to become pointless. Too large and the phone won't fit in my jeans pocket. I'd say 4.5 to 5" would be about right.

As for the iPad, I'd like its screen to be four times the pixel dimensions of the iPhone, so 3840 by 2160 or 2176 (just under 4 Mebipixels; the size of the 3rd and 4th generation iPads' screen is exactly 3 Mebipixels), and I'd like it to be just long enough to fit a full-sized keyboard (without numeric keypad) in a cover/stand. The same screen could be used for MacBook Airs, and eventually the two devices could merge, if the two OSes can also be merged successfully.

 

[Serban]

4.5" with the current size would be perfect..just more screen bottom and top..there is room still between home button and screen and top speaker

 

[jimbobb24]

Wrong.

Iphone 5 - 200
Galaxy S4 - 250 (-50$ mir)

Msrp
Iphone 5 - 650
Galaxy S4 - 699.99


Plus most good Android phones enter the market at 200, same price as apple.


People just pick Android because it offers more functionality

Wow I did not know these were the only phones on the market. The average price people pay for an Android phone is cheap. The fact that there are some premium phones as you pointed out only illustrates that you don't understand averages.

This delusion about more functionality is a nerd dream. What functionality is the average person choosing an Android phone for? When the average user holds both phones the only difference they may ever use is different themes and maybe it's easier to steal software on android. And the iPhone feels like a hand crafted masterpiece. That's it. There is no differentiated in functionality. Nerd stuff does not matter to most people. Maybe in the sales pitch being made to them so that the seller gets a commission but they never use those features. Again, the average person doesn't care about any of these supposed features nerds are clamoring to put on their phone. The average person cares about the fact that the average android phone is cheap.

And just so no one gets their feelings hurt, most of us on a site dedicated a rumors about a technology company are clearly in the nerd/power user/early adopter camp. Companies that cater to us generally go bankrupt. Features we think are important are generally useless to 95% of people and not worth the time to implement. We just happen to be a loud group.

 

[GeeEllBee]

A 5.7" screen size device could prove to be a design, engineering and aesthetic marvel and delight so please let us not dismiss this great potential. It would be the iPhone we have been waiting for without knowing it. Except that now we do
It is, after all, a portable/mobile mini computer to many of us allergic to phone calls

So why not give us the necessary screen real estate of our dreams and in our pockets? I envision a 5.7" edge to edge screen, left to right, top to bottom, that would render the device far more pocket friendly than anything on the market at the moment.

If the powers that be at Apple are reading this I beg them to please give us a 5.7" iPhone and soon.