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iPhone 5 Larger Screen - Likelihood?

T

Tones2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
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I'm curious of people's opinions on the likelihood of getting a 4"+ screen on the iPhone 5. A few weeks back, I would have thought it was zero percent likely, but with the recent case leaks and other rumors, it does seem a little more possible.

It would seem that Apple can't release a new iPhone with JUST a speed and camera increase, given the ramp up of the competition. It would have to have either a larger screen, LTE, or 64 GB capacity. Of those three, the larger screen seems the most likely.

Tony
 
Unless they surprise us all and put a 720p 4" screen in there (like the Toshiba panel) I'm saying there is a 0% chance of seeing a 4" screen in the 5. Now a larger screen, perhaps around 3.7", I give that a 99%.
 
I very much hope there will be a 4" screen, though I'd be happy enough with a 3.7".
 
The rumor back in May was that, in fact, Toshiba was going to make the 720p 4" panels for the 5th gen iphone. That was back in May and haven't heard any recent rumors about that since. That would make for an amazing looking phone.
 
It doesn't take apple this long to put an A5 and a better camera in an iPhone 4 body. So I'm guessing an all new design.
 
Tones2 said:
I'm curious of people's opinions on the likelihood of getting a 4"+ screen on the iPhone 5.
Click to expand...

Somewhere between 0 - 100% likely ;)

TSX said:
It doesn't take apple this long to put an A5 and a better camera in an iPhone 4 body. So I'm guessing an all new design.
Click to expand...

That's a good point, but I guess alot of people would say the reason for the stall is to make sure people who bought the Verizon iPhone 4 and the white version weren't pissed that they bought an old model that got outdated quickly. Plus its not like the iPhone 4 isn't still selling well...
 
This could be a silly question, but if Apple were to introduce a new screen size and resolution for the new iPhone, wouldn't app developers then once again need to cater for that just like they did with iPhone 4's retina screen?

In saying that, wouldn't app developers then need a heads up that this is happening to get their stuff in check before release? I haven't heard anything from devs about it.

Really, I don't know anything about app development, so this post could be absolute crap :)

-Kristijan
 
Kristijan said:
This could be a silly question, but if Apple were to introduce a new screen size and resolution for the new iPhone, wouldn't app developers then once again need to cater for that just like they did with iPhone 4's retina screen?

In saying that, wouldn't app developers then need a heads up that this is happening to get their stuff in check before release? I haven't heard anything from devs about it.

Really, I don't know anything about app development, so this post could be absolute crap :)

-Kristijan
Click to expand...

Screen size is not what matters in that case, it's screen resolution that counts. If they were to make the screen 4" but kept the 960x640 resolution, everything would be the same, just bigger. If they were to up the resolution, that would require developers to re-do some stuff in their apps.
 
boss.king said:
Screen size is not what matters in that case, it's screen resolution that counts. If they were to make the screen 4" but kept the 960x640 resolution, everything would be the same, just bigger. If they were to up the resolution, that would require developers to re-do some stuff in their apps.
Click to expand...

But if Apple decides to release a bigger screen they aren't going to drop the pixel density, especially after advertising it with the retina display, so they would have to increase the resolution to keep the same density. That's why I think the larger screen rumors are fake, if Apple was going to change the resolution they would have given the developers some notice.
 
Kristijan said:
This could be a silly question, but if Apple were to introduce a new screen size and resolution for the new iPhone, wouldn't app developers then once again need to cater for that just like they did with iPhone 4's retina screen?

In saying that, wouldn't app developers then need a heads up that this is happening to get their stuff in check before release? I haven't heard anything from devs about it.

Really, I don't know anything about app development, so this post could be absolute crap :)

-Kristijan
Click to expand...

boss.king is correct ... however Apple should have been ahead of this curve anyway. screen size/rez is the one thing Apple seems to be following. 3.5" in too small for a large portion of the market, especially most guys (I'm 6'1", 170lbs, and my hands dwarf the iPhone screen, I fat finger a lot while typing, and I don't even have massive hands).

I don't know if they will increase the rez on this model (but I think it will go higher/720p eventually), but I think the screen size has to go to at least 4.0". There are already 4.5" screens with more coming. 4.0" is going to be the minimal premium smartphone screen size within 2 years I would estimate. Apple needs to be early to the party for once (4.0" wouldn't even be early, still over a year behind a lot of phones, there were 4.0" phones when the 4 came out.)

It's like filming a movie or TV show in standard def when HD is everywhere. At some point you need to catch up to the times, or at very least give us multiple models (which we'll prob get anyway sooner than later).
 
I think 4.0" is the soft spot. Anything beyond or below that doesn't feel right anymore. Not to mention the ridiculous 4.5" smartphones. Either way I don't think the iPhone would lose too much resolution if the screen is stretched by 0.5". Pixel density will still be pretty high, that is if they don't increase it by a little bit to compensate slightly for the added 0.5".

Likelyhood? I'd say medium. They have stuck with that screen size for all models thus far and it works for them. Throw me in the bag of the people who hope for a 4.0" though!
 
According to this picture it looks like the screen is a little larger (notice the antenna position and no SIM slot), but hard to tell for sure.

edit: "sensor" and "antenna" swap :rolleyes:

iwork.png
 
Last edited:
I don't think so, maybe next year. It would kill the devs to move from 320x480 to 640x960 to 720x1080 (last one is just a guess, but it would be different than retina i4 if there was a screen increase) in just 2 years or so.
 
If Apple increases the the resolution, I'm sure the developers wont mind. Especially with potentially 25+ million Iphone 5's being sold. There is going to be a ton of money to be made.
 
lilmitchmitch said:
According to this picture it looks like the screen is a little larger (notice the sensor position and no SIM slot), but hard to tell for sure.

iwork.png
Click to expand...

VZW phones don't have sim slots...and that screen is no larger. The black mark on the side, where the antenna is connected, is just moved further up the phone to give the illusion that it is a larger screen. Blow the picture up and put your phone next to it. Everything lines up except that black line.
 
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