There have been a bunch of top-shelf analysts this month claiming that Apple iPhone 6 will sport a larger display, nearing the 5" mark, basing their predictions on supply chain channel checks. First it was the WSJ, then Peter Misek, then Brian White, then the venerable Gene Munster, and now we have a report from Japan reiterating again that next year's iPhone will flaunt a 5" 1080x1920 pixels display with 440ppi pixel density, made by LG.
The iPhone 5, claim the sources, will arrive in September, and Apple is putting a lot of thought and effort to make the bezel as negligible as possible, so as to ensure fairly comfortable one-handed operation. Of course, Tim Cook already warned that reading too much into channel checks is not advisable, as there are a lot of tests and prototype batches there. Next year is the big bi-annual redesign of the iPhone, however, if history is any indication, so where there's smoke there might be a 5" fire indeed. Such a large iPhone would be a radical departure from everything Apple has tried with its handset so far, and the ergonomics issue will definitely be front and center on Jony Ive's desk until the design is polished. Since the chassis will have to include the Touch ID fingerprint sensor now, too, there aren't many other options to ease one-handed operation but to make the iPhone 6 as narrow and elongated as possible. What do you think? Amid talk that Apple is planning on using curved glass for the Apple iPhone 6, the Cupertino based tech giant recently received a patent for a manufacturing process involved in making more responsive screens featuring a curve. Considering that both Samsung and LG have released curved screen smartphones, there is a good possibility that we will see a similar feature on the next iteration of the iPhone. Italian designers SET Solution have produced a pair of concept iPhone models for your perusal. Besides the curved screen Apple iPhone 6c, the designers took the thin form factor from the new Apple iPad Air and applied it to an iPhone. The actual design cues for Apple's new full-sized slate come from the Apple iPad mini, and the result is a fabulously thin handset that alas, is nothing more than a pipe dream for now. The Apple iPhone Air concept is 3mm at the bottom and tapers down to 1.5mm on top and looks as though it would break if you just looked at it the wrong way. At 70 grams, it would weigh 38% less than the Apple iPhone 5s. The Apple iPhone 6 Curve offers a dramatic curve, much less gentle than the one employed by LG with the LG G Flex. The buzz around the water cooler is that the new iPhone models will use glass that curves downward at the edges. Of course, we will never know for sure until Apple makes its annual introduction next year of the next-gen iPhone models, whether these early reports are true. In the meantime, you can check out the two concepts by clicking on the videos below.