Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,075
603
Philadelphia Area
Apple...4.5"+ or bust! The market is demanding it!

4.5 is horrible. I can almost say with 100% certainty that Apple will NEVER market a 4.5" iPhone. And whatever they wind up doing, there will only ever be 1 size iPhone. Smaller tablet? Maybe, but not multiple sized phones.

Maybe Apple could make a nice 4.5" device, but at that size it splits the market because there a ton of people who hate (including myself) grossly big phones.

~4" is the goldilock's zone.
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
These sort of look like renders. Anyway, if real, I'm surprised they aren't eliminating more of the dead space above and below the screen. Seems like a natural way to get a bigger screen on there without changing the dimensions too much.
The gaps on top and bottom of the home button seemed almost imperceptibly smaller to me. Maybe someone can pull out the magic digital ruling stick that takes orientation into account?

Still, I can see them keeping them for ergonomics/usability (holding phone sideways without resting on screen).
 

Blobs21

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2011
20
0
iPhone 5 and iOS 6

What I don't understand is that everyone is assuming iOS 6 will be shown in the summer, but why would they show iOS 6 with no new iPhone. They are definetely going to want to take advantage of the screen real estate in the new OS. It all doesn't add up to me.
 

Kellybro1234

macrumors member
Mar 13, 2012
37
0
Newry Northern Ireland
There was a mockup video posted on twitter by 9to5mac and it showed what looked very like that pane of glass with the speaker and microphone built into the bezel so this could be the new iPhonne and 9to5macs Pythagoras therom was slightly off! WWDC anyone?
 

ValSalva

macrumors 68040
Jun 26, 2009
3,783
259
Burpelson AFB
This seems so un-Apple-like. If this is true Apple is taking advantage of economies of scale by using the same resolution screen. Thus this taller iPhone is a compromise.

It would be more like Apple to just make the best device and not try and use the same fabs for LCD screens just to save a few bucks. This taller iPhone would be a huge disappointment.
 

NIKKG

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2012
367
1,196
Why would you want a phone the size of a tablet?

I switched to a 4.5" Android phone because after I had the iphone 4 for a year and a half, I was real p!ssed that Apple only came out with a slightly better 4S model with the same screen size. Trust me, once you go 4.5" and above, you can never go back to a dinky 3.5. Reading web pages is so much better on a larger screen. All I'm asking for is for Apple to give people a choice in what sized phone they want.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
I mostly believe this because I believed Steve when he said that Apple thought the current 3.5 inch screen was the perfect size. (Not that I'm saying it is, mind you, just that Apple thinks it is.)

If that's really the case, this is the only way they can make a larger screen (which people seem to want) but still maintain the "hand-holdingness" ability of their current screen that matches their other "perfect" phones.

I really do think that in Apple's mind the choice is between this new tall ratio or sticking with the current size. I can't say that means they'll do this, maybe they won't. But I will go on the record and say I'll be shocked if they do anything other than one of these two options. (Tall phone vs. no change)
 

lewisdorigo

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2008
77
0
Ayrshire, Scotland
If Apple released in October, they would never be able to make enough of them.

Release in July, which is Q3, and then get holiday bump sales in Q4, have 2 stellar quarters of sales.

This will be a huge hit.

I'd hazard a guess that it'll be announced at WWDC and release in September/October, which would give developers the interim months to optimise their apps for the new aspect ratio...
 

slrandall

macrumors 6502
Jun 15, 2011
412
0
What I don't understand is that everyone is assuming iOS 6 will be shown in the summer, but why would they show iOS 6 with no new iPhone. They are definetely going to want to take advantage of the screen real estate in the new OS. It all doesn't add up to me.

This is a good point. How could they justify holding a developer conference all about iOS 6, and then a couple months later go "Oh, here's a giant change to the screen that you're developing for! We could have told you a couple months ago - we knew then - but we didn't."

That'd do nothing but alienate developers and make it harder to get apps that fit this alleged screen more quickly.

With that said, if the iPhone screen size is changing in a way that requires developers to change their apps, then expect a huge WWDC. We could see new MacBooks and the new iPhone.
 

adztaylor

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2009
1,723
2
Preston, UK
What I don't understand is that everyone is assuming iOS 6 will be shown in the summer, but why would they show iOS 6 with no new iPhone. They are definetely going to want to take advantage of the screen real estate in the new OS. It all doesn't add up to me.

You know what, that's a fair point. I never thought of that. I mean developers will need to know too.
 

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
2,755
Germany
Why doesn't Apple just make two sizes or even three different sized phones. Leave the current 3.5" for the ladies and make a larger 4.8" for the guys and maybe have an in-between size too. Whats the problem with Apple giving people a little choice, their mac laptops come in different sizes and so why not their phones?

they are, it'll be called the iPhone 4S 8GB edition replacing the old 4
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
Umm, where's the front camera hole in the bezel, or the prox sensor?

That is the camera hole and there is no prox sensor in ipod touch.

What I don't understand is that everyone is assuming iOS 6 will be shown in the summer, but why would they show iOS 6 with no new iPhone. They are definetely going to want to take advantage of the screen real estate in the new OS. It all doesn't add up to me.

They showed iOS 5 without a new iPhone. iOS is made for applications to scale easily vertically due to multitasking tray. It shouldn't be that hard to adapt.
 

Kellybro1234

macrumors member
Mar 13, 2012
37
0
Newry Northern Ireland
I'd hazard a guess that it'll be announced at WWDC and release in September/October, which would give developers the interim months to optimise their apps for the new aspect ratio...

I think an announcement is very possible with launch in October it would be the only way to avoid fragmentation developers will have time and then the transition will be nearly flawless. It will be an apple first and will certainly damage sales in the mean time, unless of course they do have a surprise one more thing iPad mini this could work out to be a very "exciting year" and A very exciting WWDC.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
If the new iPod touch / iPhone are 16:9, wouldn't it make more sense for them to be 1280x720 instead of 1136x640?

That would require 100% of the apps to be re-written.

The idea behind 1136x640 is that things like web browsers, Facebook and Twitter, RSS feeds, and e-mail programs wouldn't have to change a darned thing. You'd just see more.

So some apps would still need to be re-written for this, but it would be far, far fewer.
 

bad03xtreme

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2009
607
144
Northern, VA
for the front, someone either went to a lot of trouble to take those photos in such perfect lighting and have eveything at a macro scale be so sharp or else they're rendered images to show what the finished part would look like

I'd lean towards the latter

the tiny parts photos are a tossup. the lighting reflection looks decent for taking the photo they got.

Yet you are probably one of those people that bitch when someone posts blurry shots of leaked parts and say "how hard is it take decent photo"...:rolleyes:
 

dponte

macrumors member
May 21, 2012
31
0
4.5 is horrible. I can almost say with 100% certainty that Apple will NEVER market a 4.5" iPhone. And whatever they wind up doing, there will only ever be 1 size iPhone. Smaller tablet? Maybe, but not multiple sized phones.

Maybe Apple could make a nice 4.5" device, but at that size it splits the market because there a ton of people who hate (including myself) grossly big phones.

~4" is the goldilock's zone.

Have you used 4.5" sized phones? I guess, I'm asking...why do you think it is 'horrible'?

Also, I suspect that they could keep the size of the frame or not change it too much (and remove the bezel), and still have a larger screen size...if the phone dimensions is your issue.
 

nfl46

macrumors G3
Oct 5, 2008
8,323
8,606
Thank you, Apple, for making the screen bigger.

Apple will probably think of a easier way for developers to deal with fragmentation. It was going to happen sooner or later.
 

Blobs21

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2011
20
0
This is a good point. How could they justify holding a developer conference all about iOS 6, and then a couple months later go "Oh, here's a giant change to the screen that you're developing for! We could have told you a couple months ago - we knew then - but we didn't."

That'd do nothing but alienate developers and make it harder to get apps that fit this alleged screen more quickly.

With that said, if the iPhone screen size is changing in a way that requires developers to change their apps, then expect a huge WWDC. We could see new MacBooks and the new iPhone.

This is a tough step for them. I see iOS as a more vertical operating system. Meaning apps like Twitter, Facebook, MLB they are require more vertical real estate than horizontal. iOS has never and will never be involved in complicated widgets that use a lot of screen real estate. I see the vertical change rather than a horizontal one.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.