Giving in to phablet-mania: Apple testing 6-inch screen iPhone - Firstpost

New York: Tech messiah Steve Jobs was sure that bigger isn't always better. Married to the Apple founder's eye for grace and style, Apple's design aesthetic has been hesitant to embrace very large screen sizes. But all that could change dramatically. As Apple prepares to unveil both a new high-end iPhone and a cheaper version for the first time on September 10 at its headquarters in Cupertino, it is already working on something bigger, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Apple has begun evaluating a plan to offer iPhones with screens ranging from 4.8 inches to as high as 6 inches, the Journal said citing sources. That would be a sizable leap from the 4-inch screen of the iPhone 5 released last year, and, at the upper end, would be one of the largest in market. Getty Images Consumers were wowed at first by the black, spare seduction of the iPhone and Apple stuck with the same 3.5-inch display on the first five generations of the iPhone. It only made the jump to a 4-inch display with the iPhone 5 last year. To prevent fragmentation, along the way the resolution changed three times, forcing developers to update old software and design for multiple screen types. A move to a larger display with a similar pixel density would likely bring another such change. Will Apple follow the market, or set the bar for it? Clearly, Apple is now testing larger screens for its smart phones and tablets as it attempts to answer intense competition from Korean rival Samsung. A report from the Journal in July said Apple asked suppliers for screen designs for a new tablet measuring slightly less than 13 inches. That followed a similar report from Reuters in June that claimed the company was working on both a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screen for its iPhone. Samsung and Apple generated $5.2 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively, in handset profits in the second quarter, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Despite rising unit sales for each of the top smart phone companies, Apple's share of worldwide sales fell to 14 percent in the second quarter from 19 percent the same time a year prior. Over the same period, Samsung's share rose to 32 percent from 30 percent, according to market research firm Gartner. Samsung has taken a leap in smart phone market share in part by offering an array of devices at different prices and sizes. On Wednesday, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 3, and it's a beast of a smart phone in every regard with a 5.7-inch screen, which places the device in a category of hybrid phone-tablets. Samsung and other competitors have been hugely successful in releasing numerous products in different sizes and prices in order to cater to a broad swath of customers, particularly in India and China. Samsung has released more than half a dozen smart phones around the globe so far this year. The news about Apple testing large screens comes just days before the company's well telegraphed September 10 event which is expected to unveil two new models — the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. Supply chain sources told Reuters that Apple is expected to launch the 5S with new fingerprint technology and the lower cost 5C in a plastic casing. Apple plans to dress up the 5C model in a range of five or six colors, if multiple leaks are correct. The screen sizes of the two iPhones that Apple is unveiling next Tuesday aren't expected to change, according to the Journal. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE4afR3FBmsz5boP5wbvM_IIKZBdA&url=http://www.firstpost.com/tech/giving-in-to-phablet-mania-apple-testing-6-inch-screen-iphone-1089031.html

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