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Apple Reportedly Launching Two New iPhones with Larger Flat Sapphire Displays in September

Wednesday February 12, 2014 3:00 am PST by Richard Padilla
iphone-6-hero Apple will reportedly release two versions of its next-generation iPhone featuring 4.7 and 5.5-inch sapphire screens in September, reports the South China Morning Post. Citing industry insiders who have "seen the prototypes," the publication also states that both phones will feature a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch (PPI) compared to the 326 PPI currently found on the displays of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

Furthermore, the Hong Kong-based newspaper adds that the new devices will feature a flat screen instead of a curved screen as suggested by prior reports, and that Apple will be discontinuing the iPhone 5c in favor of an iPhone 5s made of lower-cost materials.

Apple has been experimenting with a range of screen sizes for the next-generation iPhone since early 2013, with size rumors varying from 4.7 to 5.7 inches. The Korea Herald reported yesterday that the iPhone 6 would adopt a "bezel-free" display.

It was also reported last week that GT Advanced, the company that has partnered with Apple to open a plant in Mesa, Arizona, was gearing up to mass produce sapphire displays meant for the iPhone 6. While another report yesterday said that Apple's initial sapphire production would target the iWatch instead of the next-generation iPhone, the volume of raw material and equipment the company is purchasing would suggest plans to manufacture approximately 200 million 5-inch sapphire displays to meet iPhone demand.

[ 309 comments ]


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Ted13
69 months ago
If this is true, I may have to hang on to my iPhone 5S for an extra year, and hope that sanity returns by the iPhone 7. If you want a large screen, for the love of Mike, get an iPad.

And no, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't produce larger screened phones for the no taste people out there, but please keep making a 4" phone with the top of the line components every year.

Do any women work at Apple? Have you tried putting a 5" phone in the pocket of women's designer jeans? The current one can barely, barely fit. The 3.5 model was much better. That's half your customer base right there!!!

Please, Apple, step back from the cliff before it is too late!
Rating: 29 Votes
Avatar
lewisdorigo
69 months ago

Next-generation iPhone featuring 4.7 and 5.5-inch sapphire screens […] Citing industry insiders who have "seen the prototypes," the publication also states that both phones will feature a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch (PPI) compared to the 326 PPI currently found on the displays of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.


I hate to be “that guy”, but the math for this just doesn’t seem to check out.

What resolution would those phones be? It couldn’t be 1920x1080 (“Full HD”), because at 4.7", the pixel density would be ~468PPI, and at 5.5", the pixel density would be ~400PPI.

So if both phones had a 441PPI display, they’d both need to have different resolutions, that are both kinda near Full HD, but not quite. And it means two new resolutions for developers to support, rather than just one.

This rumour just rings false to me.
Rating: 23 Votes
Avatar
iSocialista
69 months ago

If this is true, I may have to hang on to my iPhone 5S for an extra year, and hope that sanity returns by the iPhone 7. If you want a large screen, for the love of Mike, get an iPad.

And no, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't produce larger screened phones for the no taste people out there, but please keep making a 4" phone with the top of the line components every year.

Do any women work at Apple? Have you tried putting a 5" phone in the pocket of women's designer jeans? The current one can barely, barely fit. The 3.5 model was much better. That's half your customer base right there!!!

Please, Apple, step back from the cliff before it is too late!


As a woman who owns many pairs of designer jeans and has friends who do also, not a single one of us has any interest in putting our phone in our pocket. Who does that :confused: Definitely more of a guy thing.

Looking forward to seeing what Apple has in store for iPhone 6...the larger screen is a good step in the right direction. Finally.
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
5590982
69 months ago
Reduction

This is slightly off-topic perhaps, but the most opportune time to mention it.

Does anyone else feel that, as the technology improves and as the design becomes more and more transparent, there's going to be less and less to get us excited about the actual appearance of our devices?

What I mean is, we're now at the stage of the long-foretold handheld screen. The futuristic compute device seen in sci-fi movies for decades - a glowing rectangle held in the hand with almost no physical evidence betraying how that hand-held glow got there. It just is.

Are the days of aesthetics (in terms of industrial design) numbered? Because we're almost there - the wafer-thin, cable-less, buttonless, screwless, distractionless chassis for the touch-screen. Design is soon not going to be 'almost invisible' it's going to be invisible, period. And this kind of saddens me.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
ManifoldSky
69 months ago
Wow, just… wow

Did ANYONE actually RTFA?!? So many conjectures in the comments, and almost none I read seems to be from someone who actually read the article!
Begging Apple not to abandon smaller sizes? The article DIRECTLY addresses that! (5S becoming new low cost phone.)
Upgrading the 5C? Again, addressed in the article.
Again, why comment if you haven't RTFA?
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
enrilo
69 months ago
4.7" bezel free, so:
-> 16/9 means that it's diagonal is 18.357559750685...
-> 4.7 : 18.35... = x : 9
-> x = 2.30423"
-> 4.7 : 18.35... = y : 16
-> y = 4.09641"
actually iPhone 5S is 2.31" in width and 4.87" in height. If it's bezel free, dimensions should be almost the same. It makes sense to me.

Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
Lifes
69 months ago

If this is true, I may have to hang on to my iPhone 5S for an extra year, and hope that sanity returns by the iPhone 7. If you want a large screen, for the love of Mike, get an iPad.

And no, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't produce larger screened phones for the no taste people out there, but please keep making a 4" phone with the top of the line components every year.

Do any women work at Apple? Have you tried putting a 5" phone in the pocket of women's designer jeans? The current one can barely, barely fit. The 3.5 model was much better. That's half your customer base right there!!!

Please, Apple, step back from the cliff before it is too late!


I'm glad that I'm not the only one who think the same.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
polterbyte
69 months ago
I buy 4.7in, and even bezel-free. But 5.7in? That may as well be a prototype, but one that will not see the light of day any time soon.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
CJM
69 months ago
I'm sure Apple has many prototypes. I think we can all assume that there will be at least one new iPhone model with a bigger screen. Honestly, I can't imagine Apple running three different sizes in parallel; it doesn't seem very Apple.
Whether Ive and his team can blow us away with the design remains to be seen!
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
Bilbo63
69 months ago

If this is true, I may have to hang on to my iPhone 5S for an extra year, and hope that sanity returns by the iPhone 7. If you want a large screen, for the love of Mike, get an iPad.

And no, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't produce larger screened phones for the no taste people out there, but please keep making a 4" phone with the top of the line components every year.

Do any women work at Apple? Have you tried putting a 5" phone in the pocket of women's designer jeans? The current one can barely, barely fit. The 3.5 model was much better. That's half your customer base right there!!!

Please, Apple, step back from the cliff before it is too late!


This doesn't need to be an "either - or" situation. I agree that Apple should carry on with the smaller screen for those who prefer it. That said, saying that those who want a larger screen have no taste is BS.

Count me in as someone who wants a larger screen. Quite simply, my eyes aren't as good as they used to be and a larger screen will help. I don't want an extremely large screen, I have an iPad and obviously that's not pocketable, but a 5" or even slightly larger screen fits comfortably in my pocket. While you may not need or want a larger screen there are a lot of people who do.

Personally, I'm an Apple guy and am not moving to an Android device to get a larger screen, but a lot of people have. I know many people who aren't "Mac people" per say, but would have preferred to buy an iPhone but wanted a larger screen hence they wound up going Android. Why they want or need a larger screen is irrelevant, these are people who Apple could have as customers.

Apple is leaving a lot of money on the table here. Not just in the hardware itself, but bringing these people into the iTunes ecosystem.

There is no reason that Apple cannot offer a smaller iPhone and a larger iPhone and keep both camps happy. Again, this doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both.
Rating: 6 Votes

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