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This thread is absolutely hilarious.

Look folks - the writing is on the wall. Consumers who buy smartphones today overwhelmingly prefer 4"+ screens - this is simply a fact. Add up all the smartphone sales in the US (and around the world), and the vast majority of these devices have screens larger than the iPhone 4, making the iPhone the minority with it's 3.5" screen.

So your stating as a FACT that the millions and millions and millions and millions of iPhone owners on the planet ALL prefer 4" screens? Something wrong with your thoughts and apparent 'facts' there buddy! :rolleyes:
 
That's incorrect logic. Let's say the original iPhone and all following versions were 4". Would they have sold the same? Or even more?

My guess is they would have sold more as many Android users who wanted a larger size would have stayed with Apple while the hardcore Apple buyers would still buy it.
 
Seems to me the best timing for Apple to go to a bigger screen size would have been when they went to retina. Am I missing something?

Yes, the need for a bigger battery to support LTE on the next device! If it needed to increase 70% on the iPad, how much room will it need to keep similar performance to what the iPhone 4S has now?

Then you should buy a phone with a larger screen. The iPhone isn't for everyone.

I believe I said this to you on another thread. Why should someone have to be locked into the Android (or other) ecosystem just because of the size of the phone? That makes no sense to me. If they can understand the need for different colors to cater to different customers, then I see no reason why that notion couldn't and shouldn't be extended to size as well.

Well there has to be a 7" iPad first. Right now the 7" iPad is just as mythical as the 4" iPhone, and there only exists one screen size each of the iPad and iPhone.

Again, I said assuming this rumor is true. So if it is, then what? The whole "iOS devices are different from computers/too many SKUs" argument falls apart.
 
...Again, iPhone 4S, which has a 3.5" screen, had the most popular sales launch in the history of cell phones and continues to break sales records at a time when tons of 4"+ "iPhone killers" are on the market. That does not suggestion people are tired of 3.5" screens.

Nor does it suggest they're not tired of 3.5" screens. It could simply mean they're willing to keep buying the iPhone at the present size.

We won't know which size people prefer until/unless Apple offers both at the same time.
 
So, we'll have basically the same phone as we have now. So why would I want to upgrade again?
 
Nor does it suggest they're not tired of 3.5" screens. It could simply mean they're willing to keep buying the iPhone at the present size.

We won't know which size people prefer until/unless Apple offers both at the same time.

If they're willing to buy it, that doesn't mean they're not tired of it? Do people often buy things they are tired of?
 
Only if you consider the human hand outdated, and the idea of a handheld device being usable with one hand.

SuperSizing for the sake of marketing/supersizing is outdated, I grew out of that phase in my teen years and have long since left the McDonalds mentality behind.

Want to use two hands? Try an iPad.

First of all: I don't want to buy an iPad. I already have an iPhone.

Secondly: I can't use an iPad as a phone, and it won't fit in my pocket. So that's a pretty stupid argument.

Thirdly: I don't want to try to put an iPad in my pocket, I want the iPhone to have a bigger screen. You know, like how we thought the iPhone 4s was going to have. Like how we've expected the iPhone 5 to have.

Fourthly: Who actually uses iPads? Or puts them in their pocket?
 
Yes, the need for a bigger battery to support LTE on the next device! If it needed to increase 70% on the iPad, how much room will it need to keep similar performance to what the iPhone 4S has now?



I believe I said this to you on another thread. Why should someone have to be locked into the Android (or other) ecosystem just because of the size of the phone? That makes no sense to me. If they can understand the need for different colors to cater to different customers, then I see no reason why that notion couldn't and shouldn't be extended to size as well.



Again, I said assuming this rumor is true. So if it is, then what? The whole "iOS devices are different from computers/too many SKUs" argument falls apart.

If Apple isn't making the phone you want, then the only other choice is to buy a phone from anouther manufacturer. I have no idea whether Apple will build an iPhone with a larger screen or not. I'm reasoning from Apple's history that they wont. Once Apple hits on what they consider to be an iconic design (like the current iMac) they tend to stay with it for many years.

You really can't base any arguments on a 7 inch iPad untill Apple actually makes one.
 
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It was terribly discouraging when the iPhone4S came out with a 3.5-inch screen.
There was so much hype over a larger screen, even cases to fit the "new form" were manufactured. I, for one, love the current screen - it's bright, beautiful and easy to read emails. And I like the overall size. But I REALLY want a larger screen so web page displays can be viewed easier. There is a lot of wasted space on the face of the iPhone 4/4S - plenty of room to expand, it seems. I sure hope this same-size-screen rumor isn't true.
 
So, we'll have basically the same phone as we have now. So why would I want to upgrade again?

I sure agree with this. After the 4S was announced, I left for Android and a larger screen. Unfortunately, the overall OS and camera quality just wasn't there and so I'm still with my iP4... hoping next round for a larger screen. However, the iOS6 potential is still intriguing. What a dynamite combo that would be, though - 4-4.3 inch screen with iOS6! All kinds of incentive to upgrade.
 
3.5" Screen???

Sorry, a 3.5" screen just won't fly with today's consumers. A 4" screen, at the minimum, is what will sell.
 
Basing whether or not a Company should design a different product off of last sales is one sure way to get behind the curve and not be innovative. Another flawed comparison is to compare Apples decisions on design of Mac's to the phone or the iPad design to the phone. All different markets and serve different purposes. It is no joke that Motorolla, Samsung, LG, and others are right on the heels of Apples original smartphone design and the market leader can go anyway at this point. Obviously the bigger screens are coming on strong and the consumers are drooling over it. If Apple sits for too long than I see another Microsoft (Android) taking control of market share in the future.

Personally I think the iPhone is small and I also think there is a point that is too large maybe 4.6 or larger. Finding the sweet spot is the key here. There are plenty of experiment models on the market to find the sweet spot, but people are obviously not using two hands to hold the phone to ear. Everyone uses two hands on all size phones to play apps and navigate the net, etc...

Real estate is very needed on a touch screen device. You need it to maneuver and also to read. A bigger design is important. I don't think the current iPhone 4 size covers it and there can be a better experience with a bigger screen. Sure the current size is great if your only purpose is to talk on the phone, but once you factor in all the other functions a smart phone can do, you realize quickly that a bigger screen would be much better.

The iPhone is still the best smartphone on the market no doubt. I am not doomsday saying that a bigger screen will be the deal breaker of Apple losing the battle, but it surely will be one step closer to falling further behind. waiting to lose market share in sales to determine whether you make a move or not is flat out foolish. So all those boasting that iPhone sold the most so things dont need to change are obviously not in the business sector. The iPhone 4s was not really even worth an upgrade to wait around almost 1.5 years. Then to wait another year just to get a 4g LTE is the epitome of doing nothing for almost 2 years.
 
Sorry, a 3.5" screen just won't fly with today's consumers. A 4" screen, at the minimum, is what will sell.

They're definitely popular.

From 2010 to 2011, sales of 4" + screens jumped from nothing to 24% of the smartphone market.

A recent survey has also found that people tend towards larger screens, especially as they become used to web surfing and other activities on a phone. (Slightly less true for women with small hands and iPhone owners.)

"Strategy Analytics has identified that smartphone owners want devices that have larger displays.

Almost 90% of existing smartphone owners chose a prototype smartphone with a display larger than their current device as their most preferred size. The sweet spot for these users is 4.0-inches to 4.5-inches, driven by increased web browsing and multimedia experiences.

As manufacturers drive smartphones with larger displays onto the market, they need to ensure that these devices remain thin, ‘pocketable’ or ‘pursable’ and have a high-resolution display to ensure high adoption."

- SA report, Mar 12, 2012
 
Yes, the need for a bigger battery to support LTE on the next device! If it needed to increase 70% on the iPad, how much room will it need to keep similar performance to what the iPhone 4S has now?

Seeing as you don't get better battery improvement when you get a new iPad with just wi-fi, I don't think it's the LTE that is the battery hog, it's the new retina display. Which the 4S already has. So that won't really be as big an issue as you think.

----------

I personally am voting for a 3.5" screen or at least nothing bigger than 4", but I think what all of us have to realize is that since Apple tends to go more by a one size fits all philosophy, they are going to go with the screen size they feel is a best overall compromise for the majority of the market they are targeting at (which isn't the tech geeks ;) ).

(Not to mention the concerns people have over the fact that increasing screen size changes resolution and will cause fragmentation, that's a reason I'd be for not changing size at all honestly cause the more fragmentation, the closer iOS has the same problem as Android and I like it that the developers like the OS of my choice better, means we get more choice).

I doubt though that Apple will go with something like a 4.6" screen even if they are going to increase screen size though cause as I said, they need a compromise between what many different people want. That is getting to the size of no compromise for those that want something easy to hold in one hand and fits in a pocket (with other stuff) well and easy to transport and aiming more at people who don't care and want the bigger screen (so it sticks out in my pocket or means I have to carry something extra).

I think most likely 3.8" or 4.0" is a lot more realistic to expect Apple to go to if they do increase size (I think though because of fragmentation this is really why you haven't seen a different screen size. Part of that is the problem with how they coded iOS from what I understand, apparently Android's OS is a lot more flexible for different screen sizes).
 
If they're willing to buy it, that doesn't mean they're not tired of it? Do people often buy things they are tired of?

This theory dosen't count. There is only one size phone so if you want iOS then you have to use 3.5". I don't see what is so hard to see. Head over to 9to5mac, a website dedicated to Apple products, and the vast majority is screaming for a bigger screen size. 13% of the people would like the same size while 87% want something bigger. I for one love iOS and wouldn't leave either way, but I also would love to see Apple do a 4" screen. here is the link below.

http://9to5mac.com/2012/03/21/could-apple-be-placing-orders-for-a-4-6-inch-iphone-retina-display/
 
This theory dosen't count. There is only one size phone so if you want iOS then you have to use 3.5". I don't see what is so hard to see. Head over to 9to5mac, a website dedicated to Apple products, and the vast majority is screaming for a bigger screen size. 13% of the people would like the same size while 87% want something bigger. I for one love iOS and wouldn't leave either way, but I also would love to see Apple do a 4" screen. here is the link below.

http://9to5mac.com/2012/03/21/could-apple-be-placing-orders-for-a-4-6-inch-iphone-retina-display/

hahaha 9to5mac!! THE MOST APPLE BIASED SITE ON THE WEB!!

And 37 million sold as of the last quarter and most recently the iPhone becoming the number one smartphone sold in Canada. Would state that plenty of people are MORE then happy with the iPhone's screen size seeing as they all have choice not to buy an iPhone, also according to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone

the sales figures show a massive increase in the last half or quarter. Now that could be old 3G and 3GS owners upgrading but the figure just seems far too high to be based solely on that, no I would say plenty of new people are buying iPhones.
So you can produce all the percentages you want, Apple's sales figures do not lie and consumers have had the choice of bigger screen phones for a while now.
 
hahaha 9to5mac!! THE MOST APPLE BIASED SITE ON THE WEB!!

And 37 million sold as of the last quarter and most recently the iPhone becoming the number one smartphone sold in Canada. Would state that plenty of people are MORE then happy with the iPhone's screen size seeing as they all have choice not to buy an iPhone, also according to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone

the sales figures show a massive increase in the last half or quarter. Now that could be old 3G and 3GS owners upgrading but the figure just seems far too high to be based solely on that, no I would say plenty of new people are buying iPhones.
So you can produce all the percentages you want, Apple's sales figures do not lie and consumers have had the choice of bigger screen phones for a while now.

Apple sales figures tells nothing about screen size preferences. If anything the fact that Android vendors sell twice more smart phones than Apple does indicates that people prefer bigger phones.

The bigger issue however is not whether 3.5" is small or not. The real issue is why Apple can't design two phones with different screens. Are their engineers too busy moon-lighting in genius bars or something? Ridiculous.
 
What's wrong with having to use two hands is that it reduces the opportunities to use the device. Of course I use my iPhone with two hands when they are available, but I frequently have only one hand free, and I manage to do everything with one hand including pinch zooming (it helps that I have a grippy case). Though I have fairly long fingers, increasing the size would make this more difficult as my thumb doesn't reach that far past the opposite corner. Admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time trying a bigger device, so maybe it's not that bad, but an argument for keeping it 3.5" can certainly be made.

A size increase would mean Apple would have to decide on what to do with the resolution. They could keep the same resolution, but that would decrease the pixels density. The could increase the resolution while maintaining the same pixels density, but that would mean current apps would only take up a portion of the screen and devs would have to account for yet another resolution if they want their apps to use the whole screen. Maybe they could use the extra space for some non-app functionality, but that seems unlikely. The only case I imagine they would do a size increase would be if they could double (quadruple pixel count) the screen resolution, but I don't think tech is there for that. I really don't think Apple is going to do a size increase in the next iPhone, because it's fraught with these issues and it's risky.

Since the issue of size versus funtionality I believe it has brought new interest and resound curiosity among surveyors design engineers. Apple and everyone else may take a pick interest in research as the Mobile World Congress 2012 had shown heat advertisements. We wouldnt have any doubt about what everyone may take note of what seems smartphones had brought so intensely around the world. Developers of apps are aware of changes in these transitional period of discovery. I heard rumors of technology that may pack small size and big screen look and feel.
 
hahaha 9to5mac!! THE MOST APPLE BIASED SITE ON THE WEB!!

And 37 million sold as of the last quarter and most recently the iPhone becoming the number one smartphone sold in Canada. Would state that plenty of people are MORE then happy with the iPhone's screen size seeing as they all have choice not to buy an iPhone, also according to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone

the sales figures show a massive increase in the last half or quarter. Now that could be old 3G and 3GS owners upgrading but the figure just seems far too high to be based solely on that, no I would say plenty of new people are buying iPhones.
So you can produce all the percentages you want, Apple's sales figures do not lie and consumers have had the choice of bigger screen phones for a while now.

But, how much higher would those sales figures be if the Apple phone had at least an option for a larger screen?

(Don't answer - because the answer is unknown. But it's pretty clear that 3.5" is a bit smaller than many people want.)
 
As much as a larger screen would seem nice, the only thing on my mind would be if they were to increase the size, what would the new resolution be. And if they actually went through with a larger screen, there will be an issue involving applications being stretched because they probably won't want to keep 960x640 on a larger screen.

But one thing I could see happening (and in no way am I claiming they should or will) is that they might make a slightly larger screen to try and fit 1024x768 as the resolution. That way a good majority of apps would still sit well as to seeing that was the previous iPads res. I just don't know how large the screen would have to be for this, but it seems that they can still consider it retina depending on him big they make it.

If anything, doing this could maybe give applications an easier transition over to the new resolution.

I don't know, I just feel like I'm babbling now.:eek:
 
the solution is so obvious....

As much as a larger screen would seem nice, the only thing on my mind would be if they were to increase the size, what would the new resolution be. And if they actually went through with a larger screen, there will be an issue involving applications being stretched because they probably won't want to keep 960x640 on a larger screen.

But one thing I could see happening (and in no way am I claiming they should or will) is that they might make a slightly larger screen to try and fit 1024x768 as the resolution. That way a good majority of apps would still sit well as to seeing that was the previous iPads res. I just don't know how large the screen would have to be for this, but it seems that they can still consider it retina depending on him big they make it.

If anything, doing this could maybe give applications an easier transition over to the new resolution.

I don't know, I just feel like I'm babbling now.:eek:

If Apple IOS had true resolution independence, it would be a non-issue. The app would supply high resolution graphics, and the OS would scale to the resolution of the device. (If the app only had low resolution graphics, the OS would upscale to the resolution of the device. Not as good as downscaling, but in the various BD threads many Apple fans claim that upscaled DVDs are as good as BDs....)

Instead, Apple only "supports" resolution doubling - a really lazy way of dealing with the issue.

In the case of a 4" Apple phone, however, Apple could be quite sleazy. All Apple would need to do is to say that you hold a 3.5" phone 10" from your face, and a 4" phone is held 11" from your face. Therefore, a 4" phone with the same pixel dimensions as the 3.5" phone is still a "retina display".

Problem solved.
 
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