Which is your opinion. If you look at that poll, and the large number of respondents (and this isn't the first poll of it's kind), it's largely in the 70 percentile that people want a bigger screen. It's also become the golden standard, and neither of those things can be ignored by even Apple.
Actually, I'd call the iPhone the "gold standard", and as you know, no 4" screen on that! By the way, when was the last time Apple took a poll to see what we care about? They innovate, then lead. They do NOT poll. Sorry everyone but as an American, I have no problem telling you that American consumers are dumb.
I know Apple likes to create things we didn't know we wanted, but that's a motto they use in developing new products. When it comes to existing products, they might not always be first, but they always deliver in time.
Its WAY more than a motto to me at least. I may be the only one. As far as existing products... Mac, iPhone, iPad... seems like a pattern to me. Innovate, and lead.
I liken it to Blu-Ray. Still not there, but you don't see the masses demanding it. (It's largely been ignored as a format, period.) Now say Blu-Ray had caught fire like the DVD did, and everyone in the world was running out and loading up on players and media, you know Apple would have invested in the licensing. It never happened, and it won't happen. In this example, the user can at least use an external drive if they choose to. In the event of phone, that's not an option.
LOL I liken the 4" screen to the Blu-Ray debate as well. If you did a poll on mac rumors, 70% of people would want it and would never get it.
Demand + need They also paid witness to a huge internet spanking when the iPhone 4S did not have a larger screen. They got bent over and spanked by not just the tech news sites, but by the people. The 4S is a great seller, but it's also been a device attracting new users. This is the first time people weren't flocking for early upgrades. Last year, the early upgrade was so in demand, AT&T revised their policy because of that demand This year, not any outcry for it, and we didn't get early upgrades. Those things are telling. It shows most people are willing to wait for the next model. Siri wasn't a big enough draw for existing owners, because they want a new design and screen. So says all the polls.
Again with the polls no one has ever seen. Um, jump on a windows site, Apple gets spanked on the internet daily, but they don't run around trying to please everyone. They just make a better product and you can buy it or not. Its interesting how you describe the pre orders for the iPhone 4S, funny, I thought it was the best selling iPhone of all time, and internationally (where all the people are) is through the roof! Yeah, that 4" screen is a must have.
Except there absolutely were prototypes floating around with the 4" screen. If Apple were so dead set against the idea, they wouldn't be toying with it in their labs. The level of detail that leaked on the iPhone 5 was too concrete.
