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Apple Testing Prototype iPhones With Six-Inch Screens, Not Expected This Year

Apple needs to keep it simple, have 3 devices 4-5-6.
4" is the budget model for midgets and children. Keep the same specs as 5/5S.
5" and 6" have a quad-iphone5 display (2272x1280) so all the apps work without redoing them thanks to perfect scaling. 5" is the mainstream flagship model and the 6" is the phablet model. All bases covered.
 
batchtaster said:
Really... now you're just going to ignore a valid point about the iPhone accessory market.



Really... now you're just going to assume on behalf of everyone else that what you want is what the "people" want. I don't recall that unanimous vote.



There's a difference between being perfectly happy with a 4-inch screen and the merits and reasoning behind such (single-hand operation, preservation of Retina resolution), and insisting that a larger size will/must never happen. A difference you appear not to grasp.
Click to expand...

When in doubt, throw out an ambiguous statement. Got it. Typical.

Apple said 3.5 was the perfect size and their fans agreed. They didn't want anything bigger.

Apple releases a 4 inch phone and they say it's the perfect size and their fans all of a sudden agreed.

People are bashing the plate sized android phablet phones with their 5+ inch screens.

Now there are rumors of apple testing 6 inch phones.

All of a sudden it's the perfect size once again. So it's only perfect when apple says it is.

Jeez I've never seen this much brainwashing in my life. Not even religion has that kind of power.

So what are you gonna do if Apple releases a 6 inch phone?

It'll be perfect once again and the fans will cream their pants.

Waiting for another ambiguous response.
 
Bad photoshop but why that button on the bottom of phone..same size..bigger screen
 

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Samsung fanboys are kind of gross. Steve Jobs said something you can function with one hand was perfect. A thin, 4" screen device can be used with one hand. Now, we know Apple has tested larger iPhone prototypes in the past, so if they think a 4.8" device has a big market, they'll make one if it doesn't lose the "iPhone identity".

And, again, Steve Jobs said the 3.5" size was perfect, not Apple.
 
Over 20,000 page views as of this post is a pretty good indicator that not everyone is happy with one size fits all :)
 
nooaah said:
Samsung fanboys are kind of gross. Steve Jobs said something you can function with one hand was perfect. A thin, 4" screen device can be used with one hand. Now, we know Apple has tested larger iPhone prototypes in the past, so if they think a 4.8" device has a big market, they'll make one if it doesn't lose the "iPhone identity".

And, again, Steve Jobs said the 3.5" size was perfect, not Apple.
Click to expand...

Steve Jobs was Apple.
 
acfusion29 said:
now everyone is going to cry that they don't want a screen this large even though no one is putting a gun to their head to buy one.

options are good!!

bring on the bigger screen.
Click to expand...

Why do you want a smaller screen when they already make a 7.9" version?
http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/

Sounds like all you phablet phans really need is just a version of the phone app that can run on an ipad mini. Unless Skype is good enough.

What most folks need from a phone is something that fits comfortably in the average pocket and is comfortable to use one handed - 3.5" was quite perfect, 4" was unnecessary though more or less tolerable, but absolutely the upper limit of reasonable for a phone.
Anybody who needs bigger should really be getting a small tablet.
 
X38 said:
Why do you want a smaller screen when they already make a 7.9" version?
http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/

Sounds like all you phablet phans really need is just a version of the phone app that can run on an ipad mini. Unless Skype is good enough.

What most folks need from a phone is something that fits comfortably in the average pocket and is comfortable to use one handed - 3.5" was quite perfect, 4" was unnecessary though more or less tolerable, but absolutely the upper limit of reasonable for a phone.
Anybody who needs bigger should really be getting a small tablet.
Click to expand...

I love how absurd people can be. Yeah, 4" is the upper limit. :rolleyes:

Do you realize how easily a 5" phone fits in a pocket? I believe the Moto X has a 4.7 inch screen, but because of the highly superior bezel design, it's barely bigger than the iPhone. All of this Apple knows best stuff is pure insanity.
 
Am I the only one that doesn't want to be holding a freaking laptop screen up to my head?

No. Please no. Keep it at 4". More options make things tougher on developers and accessory providers, destroying two key advantages Apple currently has over Android's ridiculous fragmentation.

Steve was right. Keep the screen small so you can operate it with just one hand.
 
TennisandMusic said:
I love how absurd people can be. Yeah, 4" is the upper limit. :rolleyes:

Do you realize how easily a 5" phone fits in a pocket? I believe the Moto X has a 4.7 inch screen, but because of the highly superior bezel design, it's barely bigger than the iPhone. All of this Apple knows best stuff is pure insanity.
Click to expand...

+1

moto-x-vs-iphone-5-7.jpg


moto-x-vs-iphone-5-4.jpg
 
4" is perfect but some people may prefer not perfect size because they are not perfect, some may have sight problem and need bigger phone.
I think 4" pair with 6" will good for cover market.
 
swy05 said:
When in doubt, throw out an ambiguous statement. Got it. Typical.

Apple said 3.5 was the perfect size and their fans agreed. They didn't want anything bigger.

Apple releases a 4 inch phone and they say it's the perfect size and their fans all of a sudden agreed.

People are bashing the plate sized android phablet phones with their 5+ inch screens.

Now there are rumors of apple testing 6 inch phones.

All of a sudden it's the perfect size once again. So it's only perfect when apple says it is.

Jeez I've never seen this much brainwashing in my life. Not even religion has that kind of power.

So what are you gonna do if Apple releases a 6 inch phone?

It'll be perfect once again and the fans will cream their pants.

Waiting for another ambiguous response.
Click to expand...

Revolutionary!!
 
The obvious reason keeping Apple from releasing bigger screen sizes is the fixed resolution nature of iOS compared to the resolution independent Android. Fixed UI element sizes and screen resolution is instrumental in keeping iOS apps looking much better than Android counterparts and is winning app developers for the platform. Doubling resolution to 960x640 caused no issues, adding 176px to the height to accommodate another row of icons caused only minor inconvenience in the form of black bars, the horizontal layout of apps did not have to change and most apps have a natural vertical scrolling that easily lends itself to supporting the extra height in a useful way. The aspect ratio went from a reasonable 3:2 to also reasonable 16:9. But now Apple stands in front of a much more difficult change. It's no longer possible to just grow the height, it's also hard to imagine they would want to grow UI feature sizes to the 10" iPad level, all while dropping resolution. Unfortunately there's a fork in the road much like iPhone/iPad.

176px was enough for an extra row of icons
160px is the width of each icon collumn (640/4)

Adding 5th icon column results in 800px width, adding an extra row would increase vertical resolution from 1132px to 1308px, which is close to 16:10 aspect ratio. A close standard resolution is 1366x768 in 16:9 which might do the trick, although Apple is no stranger to defining their own custom resolutions.

Keeping the same Retina pixel density, we are looking at 20% larger screen which is 4.8"
 
One thing I really love about the iPhone 5 is the form factor. It easily fits in my pocket and my hand. I would really be bummed out if Apple decides to follow the trend of these ludicrously oversized Android phones. If they do, I hope they keep the option of reasonable sized phones.
 
Well I might be in the tiny minority here, but I still prefer 3.5" more than anything. Nothing wrong with Apple releasing 4", 5" and maybe 6" phones, but I still want that classic 3.5" iPhone. It wraps around my fingers, true one-handed use (the iPhone 5 still has a few issues with one-handed use), fits in any pocket I put it in, as I sometimes put it in the front pocket of my shirt, and lastly, I prefect the 3:2 aspect ratio over 16:9.

The one thing that baffles me as a marketer is that consumers are clearly asking for larger phones, AND smaller tablets. Some might say that these are 2 different markets, but from what I'm noticing it isn't. I've seen countless people owning a Galaxy Note II with a huge 5.5" screen, and yet they own a Nexus 7 or a larger Samsung tablet. Why is that? Doesn't it make more sense to have a smaller phone when you're outside, and then play around with the tablet when you're at the office or at home? So why are people asking for a 5" or even a 6" iPhone that's just as capable as a 4" one, when there is an 8" iPad Mini and that's just so much more capable and can be used almost anywhere? I guess I just don't get consumers sometimes :p

I guess this whole screen sizes craze will fade away when foldable screens and foldable battery technology comes in.
 
4.8 inch screen would be perfect. I skipped iPhone 5, and I'll skip 5S as well, because the screen size just isn't what I want to pay for.
 
No chance.

Tim Cook is rather incompetent and his abysmal track record since Steve Job's passing clearly indicates that he has neither the vision nor the creativity to oversee innovative product launches.

Just look at how he has foolishly spent so much time -- over a year -- blindly defending the current screen size of the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S as if the size is dictated by some God-given dogma that dropped down from the sky -- while Samsung run circles around Apple with its Galaxy phones and gobbles up the market share and leaping ahead of Apple.

Rather than innovating, Tim Cook seems fixated on blindly defending something so trivial that it just makes him look silly and stubborn.

The sooner Apple's Board of Directors wakes up to this and kicks Tim Cook out and replaces him with someone who is actually capable and who has the vision and creative fit for a company like Apple, the better.

Tim Cook might still be competent enough for a COO position at Apple. But CEO he is clearly not.

A company the size and position of Apple -- even after its dramatic fall from being the leader in innovation within such a short amount of time -- really needs someone with a modicum of creativity and vision. I just can't see that in Tim Cook even though I have tried.

And I am speaking as an Apple shareholder.
 
zgh1999 said:
as if the size is dictated by some God-given dogma that dropped down from the sky
Click to expand...
It didn't fall from the sky, Steve decided it was the best size.

zgh1999 said:
-- while Samsung run circles around Apple with its Galaxy phones and gobbles up the market share and leaping ahead of Apple.
Click to expand...

Not really.

zgh1999 said:
Rather than innovating, Tim Cook seems fixated on blindly defending something so trivial that it just makes him look silly and stubborn.
Click to expand...

Yeah because making a bigger phone is innovation...

zgh1999 said:
The sooner Apple's Board of Directors wakes up to this and kicks Tim Cook out and replaces him with someone who is actually capable and who has the vision and creative fit for a company like Apple, the better.
Click to expand...

Who is that? There's nobody that can follow Steve. If there was, he/she'd be the CEO of Apple right now.


zgh1999 said:
A company the size and position of Apple -- even after its dramatic fall from being the leader in innovation within such a short amount of time -- really needs someone with a modicum of creativity and vision. I just can't see that in Tim Cook even though I have tried.

And I am speaking as an Apple shareholder.
Click to expand...

Just sell then. So I can buy for cheaper.
 
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swy05 said:
When in doubt, throw out an ambiguous statement. Got it. Typical.

Apple said 3.5 was the perfect size and their fans agreed. They didn't want anything bigger.

Apple releases a 4 inch phone and they say it's the perfect size and their fans all of a sudden agreed.

People are bashing the plate sized android phablet phones with their 5+ inch screens.

Now there are rumors of apple testing 6 inch phones.

All of a sudden it's the perfect size once again. So it's only perfect when apple says it is.

Jeez I've never seen this much brainwashing in my life. Not even religion has that kind of power.

So what are you gonna do if Apple releases a 6 inch phone?

It'll be perfect once again and the fans will cream their pants.

Waiting for another ambiguous response.
Click to expand...

Apple I believe have maintained that a device you can reach all corners of with one hand was the perfect size. Not necessarily that it would be 3.5" or 4".

A Phablet is a perfect size for just that a phablet, that's why the phrase was coined. At what point is a device called something different because of it's size?

If I JB my iPad and introduce a phone function is it a now phone or still a tablet?

The point Apple is making is that the optimum size for a phone is the one they produced, why not wait to see what Apple says about the 6", (assuming they make one), and then comment?
A 6 inch device is not as portable as it needs to be, at least to my mind - I don't mind saying that now and it won't change even if they bring out a 7" phone.
 
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