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

[Tech198]

You don't understand. ios does not support resolutions willy nilly like Android. If Apple changes the resolution again you break apps and you will have black bars or some crazy zooming that will make the apps look crappy. This approach makes sense because all iphone 5 apps will fill the screen at the expense of dpi. I highly doubt we will see a new iphone resolution released this year unless Apple totally redesigns ios.

So, in order words. IOS has a fixed resolution, like Windows,, Once you scale, icons break ? This is why Windows icons are a fixed size.

*sigh.. telling jokes on a forum, the lowest common thing any human can do* Of all jokes it has to be tech jokes... which are the worst.

 

[TouchMint.com]

I am all for it as long as they keep the pixels the same or double the pixels. This last change was horrible adapt to programming and design wise.

 

[thewolfro]

Oh God..soon they will start selling in apple stores jeans bigger pockets to fit the new iphone.

 

[smulji]

You don't understand. ios does not support resolutions willy nilly like Android. If Apple changes the resolution again you break apps and you will have black bars or some crazy zooming that will make the apps look crappy. This approach makes sense because all iphone 5 apps will fill the screen at the expense of dpi. I highly doubt we will see a new iphone resolution released this year unless Apple totally redesigns ios.

Problem with going to 4.9" screen while keeping the same resolution (albeit lesser ppi) as the iPhone 5 is it defeats the purpose of going to a bigger screen - to display more information. By going to 264 ppi on a 4.9" screen, you won't be fitting that much more information the display since the pixels will be bigger. It just means that what you'll be looking at will be easier to see. Kinda opposite of progress don't ya think?

 

[0000757]

As long as the device contains an upgraded Retina display and a quad-core processor, I'd seriously consider buying it.

 

[Arcady]

A bigger screen allows you to see more content regardless of resolution.

That makes no sense at all. If the screen shows 1136x640, then you can see images that are 1136x640, no matter how big the screen is. You will just end up with the exact same content on the screen, but it will be ~20% bigger.

You sound like the morons who insist on a 19 inch monitor that runs at 1280x1024, because the 17 inch screen that runs at 1280x1024 "doesn't show enough stuff on it." They show the exact same content, but at different sizes.

These bigger screens with the same resolution as the smaller screen are only good for one thing: old people who won't admit they are going blind. That's why I keep seeing PC laptops with 14 inch screens that only have 1366x768 screens; because the old 1600x1050 or 1280x800 screens were too high-res and made text too small for old people to read when the OS was set to default font sizes.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

All future iOS devices will surpass 300ppi.

 

[chineseguy38]

Why do guys buy iPhones? To put on their make ups? LOL

Yeah, especially with that mirror screen protector on.

 

[manu chao]

Problem with going to 4.9" screen while keeping the same resolution (albeit lesser ppi) as the iPhone 5 is it defeats the purpose of going to a bigger screen - to display more information. By going to 264 ppi on a 4.9" screen, you won't be fitting that much more information the display since the pixels will be bigger. It just means that what you'll be looking at will be easier to see. Kinda opposite of progress don't ya think?

Most people will still perceive it as more, because while I can read the tiniest text on my iPhone 326 dpi screen, it is not the most pleasant experience. The same applies to photos. Bigger photos will look better even if the resolution per inch drops a bit.

 

[0000757]

You don't understand. ios does not support resolutions willy nilly like Android. If Apple changes the resolution again you break apps and you will have black bars or some crazy zooming that will make the apps look crappy. This approach makes sense because all iphone 5 apps will fill the screen at the expense of dpi. I highly doubt we will see a new iphone resolution released this year unless Apple totally redesigns ios.

....No, thats not how iOS handles resolutions at all.

In fact the only complication that would arise is when you have custom UI apps that are in depth like Flipboard, Carbuzz, etc. Otherwise iOS could easily scale to multiple resolutions at multiple DPIs.

 

[ray6712]

Two words people resolution independence it's coming and I figure it's coming real soon. There's a ton of money in mobile and Apple knows this better than anyone. The easiest way to remedy this resolution problem, rewrite iOS to be fully resolution independent then the OS can display the apps at its full resolution instead of waiting for them to update to the newest resolution.

 

[polee]

Please apple. A larger screen would help my poor eyes. And I am all for your products. Just tired of the tinny screen on your current iPhone models.

 

[manu chao]

All future iOS devices will surpass 300ppi.

You expect the iPad screen resolution to go up?

 

[Stack Overflow]

Read thread?

You can't say Apple absolutely won't release a new non-retina device, then pretend that they didn't do exactly that with the iPad mini.

But the number of those that will also demand that pixels be a certain size - larger than the current ones - and that the resolution not exceed a certain upper bound is, in my opinion, minuscule. You may disagree, and that is fine. No need to debate the point.

No, I'm not saying people specifically want larger pixels. What a silly notion.

What I'm saying is that, given the design constraints Apple tries to work within, a retina iPhone Plus is going to be exceptionally difficult. It will either have to be some sort of "super retina" that would be very expensive, lead to poor yields, and gain no benefit (beyond retina, smaller pixels become exceedingly useless).

The other choice is to make an entirely new resolution and pixel size. That's possible, and if they have to do it, they just might. But I do believe Apple would rather have larger pixels to keep things simpler for developers in order to make an iPhone Plus now, rather than make nothing, or making an impossibly expensive and poor manufacturing yield rate of a proper retina-but-multiple-of-some-existing-iOS-screen-dimension iPhone Plus.

I am eager for a larger display just like you. You can have all pixels you want on it? Can you accept that Apple will take your number and add a bunch more to it for folks like me (and the masses)? If you don't want to use all the pixels, that's absolutely fine by me. Perhaps apple will provide a facility to run non native res like you can on a Retina Macbook. Then we're all happy.

I do think that that's a potential down the road, but Apple doesn't have the developer support in place to make that feasible today. It would have to be paired with a significant change in iOS support and guidelines. It's possible they could do this in iOS 7, but I think it's the sort of thing Apple would rather hold off on if they can, even if that means releasing a non-retina iPhone Plus. The precedent for this is the iPad mini, which you so readily dismissed above without the slightest justification.

Yes, all things remaining equal, a higher-res iPhone Plus would be better than a sub-retina iPhone Plus. But all things aren't equal, and a non-retina iPhone Plus is better than no iPhone Plus at all!

And to those saying that a larger size at the same resolution is pointless, just look at computer monitors or TVs. People uniformly prefer 50" 1080p screens to 20" 1080p screens, when space and budget allows for it. Even if it was just the exact same resolution of the iPhone 5, only 4.x" instead of 4", there'd still be a significant number of people who would rather have the larger size over the sharper image of the smaller model.

And the nice thing about it is, since Apple will clearly sell both a larger and a smaller one, those that prefer one over the other will be able to buy the one they'd prefer, instead of being stuck with just the only one that's available!

It's a complete win-win. I don't understand where all the complaints are coming from. With an iPhone Plus, you lose nothing, and gain extra choice! What's wrong with that?

 

[smulji]

Two words people resolution independence it's coming and I figure it's coming real soon. There's a ton of money in mobile and Apple knows this better than anyone. The easiest way to remedy this resolution problem, rewrite iOS to be fully resolution independent then the OS can display the apps at its full resolution instead of waiting for them to update to the newest resolution.

People have been saying that for years. Hearing about resolution independence is getting as tiring as hearing about Gene Munster's Apple TV predictions.

----------

You expect the iPad screen resolution to go up?

why not? I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

 

[1Alec1]

A bigger screen with the same number of pixels seems pointless. It's a phone, not a tablet.

 

[rMBP15]

Oh wow, I'm impressed... I so cannot wait to get one...

 

[Daws001]

4-inch is perfect for me.
If I need something bigger, I pull out the iPad mini.
If I need something bigger than that, I pull out the MBA.
If I need something bigger than that...well, that's all I've got so I'm screwed.

 

[mkoesel]

A bigger screen allows you to see more content regardless of resolution.

No it cannot.

There has been laptops with 1280x800 resolution for a while. You can definitely browse the web better on that than any 4.8 inch screen.

Well of course, certainly. A laptop cannot practically be used at anywhere near the close distance from your eyes that a phone can be. So it requires a larger screen.

Folks there is a reason why a Retina iPhone display has a specific pixel density target that is higher than that for a Retina iPad display which in turn is higher than that for a Retina computer display. Distance from the eye to the display is the answer.

 

[olowott]

all we can do is watch and wait

by now we all know rumours only fuels our desires

but we know apple aint gonna do it

 

[onthecouchagain]

Oh, now it's making sense. It made no sense when other manufacturers were doing it.

 

[wippy]

resolution and screen size....

i think some people are too precious with their magic ppi numbers.... just because apple say so..... i agree in general that the higher the ppi, the better the screen looks... but people seems a bit obsessive about higher being better.... if people can fit a 1080p screen in a 1 inch screen, does that mean it's better... sure it may look awesome and sharp but how are you going to interact with the screen with such a small surface area.....

i think it's a trade off and balance of usability, screen resolution and size..... some people prefer a bigger screen for their fat fingers or bad eye sight but can sacrifice a slight drop in display quality while others think the screen quality is the most important and will not go bigger until the the bigger size screen come in equal or higher ppi.... but i think offering the option to people while not sacrifising the apple dev/app ecosystems is probably the most important factor.....

my mum loves her ipad and would love the same os for her phone but hated the iphone compare to her S3 because the screen is too small for her to see and interact with.... there's just such a huge market for the bigger size irrespective of the decrease in screen quality..... forget about it not being innovative, if apple doesn't meet market demands and keep making the money they are making, then they won't have a chance to release whatever other truely innovative products they may have under wraps..... in some ways I think their reluctance to go the bigger screen because of their own pride have allowed the rest of the market to catch up......

i know a lot of people will disagree with me here (especially here).... i love all my apple products but i haven't had an iphone since the 3GS (screen size was only one of the initial reasons for my change).... i would love to come back to the fold (for the apps etc) but i really can't at the moment now that i'm used to my 4.8 inch screen... it's just hard to navigate and use any smaller screen....

 

[fertilized-egg]

But it's Apples insistance in retaining that resolution thats going to hurt them. If they create a larger phone the ppi is really going to suffer especially as everyone seems to be bringing out 440+ ppi.

While the new full HD phones are nice, the return on the extra resolution is really diminishing - in fact I've read a few HTC DNA (the first full HD phone with 400+ DPI) comments that report that the display of the HTC One X looks just oh-so-slightly better in many regards despite the lower resolution, because the pixel density of One X is already pretty high and its display is slightly brighter.

If Apple can give the new display good accurate colors, high brightness and contrast, etc, at 264 PPI it should look just fine. Actually one could "preview" it by simply looking at the Retina iPad display a few inches closer. Somewhat ironically, Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 has the pixel density that virtually matches this rumored large iPhone's (267 PPI) and most users don't seem to mind it much.

Also it'll be interesting to see if they implement the support for subpixel rendering of the fonts on iOS. The MacBook Pro Retina has lower density screen but the OSX fonts with the antialiasing look absolutely wonderful, even better than the ones in the higher resolution iOS devices.

I'd actually like to see Apple expand more into different iOS form factors by creating a smaller connected iOS device as well as a larger one, be it a smart watch or a "dumb"phone. My personal favorite is an even larger tablet but that probably won't happen for a while.

 

[aws2]

It has potential

If they're gonna increase the size of the screen, they have to reduce the size of the bezel. Get the edge of that screen as close as possible to the edges of the phone. Nobody holds a phone by the bezel, they palm the entire phone and grab the edges. There's no need to have any space around the screen. I wonder if we could even get by without the home button, actually. Make some kind of gesture to replace it. The iPad has the five finger closing gesture that achieves the same function as the home button. I rarely ever use the home button on my iPad, and what I do use it for could be replaced by something else as well. With a bigger screen on the iPhone, I'm sure they could employ either the same or similar function.
Either that, or just make a new home button on the side or something. Anything that increases the size of the screen with minimal increase of the phone itself. I also think a phone that's all screen and little-to-no bezel just looks better too.

And round the edges like the iPad Mini and new iPods. As much as I liked the antenna ring on the 4/4S and 5, I think it's time to get rid of it. It's starting to give the iPhone a dated look. And yes, I realize how ridiculous it is to call something that's only 2 or 3 years old "dated", but hey, that's how fast technology and design is moving.

 

[salacious]

never before has man been obsessed with his inches, your starting to sound like women "i need a big one, i prefer a small one or it hurts my hands, i want it longer, i want it wider"

honestly maintain yourselves..