back to article Rumoured iPhone 5 'will have 4in screen' against Jobs' wish

iPhone 5 will grow 8mm in length to accommodate a new 4in screen, according to rumours on iLounge that conjure the shape of the next Jesus mobe out of the mists of speculation. According to the site's sources, the iPhone 5 is likely to have the same flat edges as the 4, which means that we won't get the teardrop-style tapered …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We've been hearing the bigger screen iPhone rumours for ages now, give it a rest.

  2. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    Who cares now what Jobs wished?

    He's 'Brown Bread', and Worms' meat.

    If you try to interview him today, you'll find him a grave man.

    Now, let's get on with a product the 'people' actually WANT!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Did the Apple board bump him off?

      "Over my dead body!!"

      "As you wish, sir."

    2. ZankerH

      Are you implying Apple listens to its costumers?

      1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

        Apple does listen! It even nods from time to time and takes notes, before presenting you with a Professional Listening invoice, plus 30% tip.

      2. hplasm
        Happy

        Apple Costumers?

        "I don't like that hat! It has rounded corners!"

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Are you implying Apple listens to its costumers?

        When it suits them, though sometimes the gloves come off and they get a dressing-down.

  3. Kirstian K
    Thumb Up

    Love Jobs

    Think he was a great guy, and im like my 'I' devices very much. but in this world, we need to move on, and like it or not he aint here any more, and the company deserves the right to take things is new bold directions if it wants to. (ok a different screen size is not that bold, but you get what i mean).

    so i say go apple, and become something more. jobs was great at being jobs, but move onwards and upwards.

  4. Bear Features

    But but...

    Jobs said anything other that the iSomething was just too big? What will the bois do if this is true? *sigh* - I know, I know... it'll be the old "It's what he would have wanted". Or maybe a few leaked stories that he mentioned it just before he died. That'll do the trick. Any excuse to make the $$$ coming in from the imprisoned disciples. Their credit cards are poised and their position is already assumed.

  5. schotness

    What about the 7" ipad ?

    that i'm waiting for

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Four whole inches eh?

    Since Samsung is already punting out phones with 4.7 inches thats still a bit on the wee side.

    Still I suppose by now measuring screens in inches, has been patented by the fruity one.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Since when did carrying around a big dorkslab of a phone become cool?

      I had a Nokia communicator years ago and was always getting people say how it was too big. Yet it would fit into a trouser pocket, which is more than can be said of some of these big Android phones.

      1. Robert E A Harvey
        Paris Hilton

        ...or are you just pleased to see me?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Japan

        Big Dorkslabs are very popular in Japan. Mainly because everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has handbags

        Hell in a country where you have a tiny phone with 2Kgs worth of fluffy toy keyrings hanging off em wont mind a slightly larger keyri...phone.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Technology

      Samsung is able to make a screen that's 4.7 inches diagonal? That's incredible! It will take a miracle for Apple to catch up to that kind of futuristic amazing space-age technology.

      I hope I live to see the day when mankind is able to create a 30 inch phone... one can dream...

      1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

        "I hope I live to see the day when mankind is able to create a 30 inch phone... one can dream..."

        I hope I'll be alive to see you try and stick that in your pocket :-)

        1. Ian Coutts

          They could always make it foldable. That would be cute.

        2. Martin Huizing
          Thumb Up

          Next generation of phones...

          ...will have a projector built in.

        3. Volker Hett
          Coat

          Haven't you played Leisure Suit Larry?

          Mines the one with the inflatable doll

      2. Lance 3

        @AC

        They tried, it didn't sell very well.

        http://www.schroederschoembs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/apple-store-iphone-display.jpg

        http://www.blogcadre.com/files/images/apple_0.jpg

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It needs to be that big to contain the ego and smugness quotient of the Apple fanboi using it!

  7. Simbu
    Trollface

    Yawn

    I predict that the next iPhone will make me a bacon sandwich before pleasuring me into a comatose mess with its interactive, holographic fleshlight.

    Legit rumour! Can i have an article please?

  8. HP Cynic

    All makes sense but I wonder if they will manage to reduce the price of the iPhone this time...somehow I doubt it.

  9. Gav
    Boffin

    Backwards Compatibilty

    "iPhone 5 will grow 8mm in length to accommodate a new 4in screen,"

    Yet another sign of Apple's genius, making those millimetres backwardly compatible with antiquated inches! But that still doesn't tell us how many cubits it will be in overall length, or how many shekels it will weigh.

    1. and-job

      But they don't dare say how man strokes it takes to make the iPhone 4S grow that 8mm to become the 5?

      Magic fingers oooer...

    2. Lance 3

      "Yet another sign of Apple's genius, making those millimetres backwardly compatible with antiquated inches! But that still doesn't tell us how many cubits it will be in overall length, or how many shekels it will weigh."

      One thing is for sure, the buyers don't have stones to worry about it.

    3. davemcwish

      4 in screen ?

      It should be 0.7257 lg (EU standard Florentine linguine unboiled at sea level)

  10. Jonathan White
    FAIL

    Hmm. Stories based on second hand rumours posted on another web site? You disappoint me Vulturettes.

  11. Tegne
    Terminator

    Perpetual motion?

    If only they could harness the power of Jobs turning in his grave....

  12. ratfox
    Devil

    £50 says it is bullcrap.

    Any takers?

    1. dssf

      I don't thnk it's bullcrap.

      Apple probably has 30% to 50% of its cllentele clamoring for bigger screens either because they feel dimished in power dwarfed by Samsung's and HTC's bigger screens (despite Retina), and maybe because some people are just damned tired of paying for sexy-n-small at the expense of their largeish fingers striking keys they don't want to type. I've got an HTC (Android phone, of course), and my fingers regularly bump keys I don't want to touch when I'm fast-typing. Granted, Apple's algorythms and touch response may have more finesse that in most of the HTC phones, but, I am suspecting some competition-mindedness in the mix.

      Really, how much can it hurt Apple to cater to a percentile/index with a wee-bit larger phone? If it costs apple 40 to 200 extra cents to enlarge the phone, the loyal upgraders will probably pay an extra $15 to get it if Apple offers two sizes. Apple probably just doesn't want to live with two sizes of stock and being wrong about whihc one will sell better than the other and whether both will outsell their forecasts of each model.

  13. Thomas 18
    Thumb Up

    End to tyranny

    Glad to hear they are distancing themselves from the old helmsman. Maybe now they can start to do something with their giant pile of cash instead of saving it as extra hit points in the patent slugfest.

  14. Dana W
    Meh

    SURE it is!

    Because NOTHING is more reliable than early, unsubstantiated Apple rumors.

    "And its gonna have a folding keyboard too! Really!"

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    already?

    Really?

    The 4S has been out all of 5 mins, and people are already speculating on what /will/ be in the next one.

    remember how foolish everyone looked when all the 'promised' features were missing from the 4S, wont be the last time, and you can count on that.

    Also, personally, i don't think it will be the iPhone5, not sure what i think it will be though, but if you look at it, the 4S, _IS_ the 5th iPhone. If they call the next one the 5, it is basically saying the 4S, wasn't a new phone but and upgrade to the 4, but if that was the case, then the 3GS (3rd iphone) was also not a phone in it's own right, which makes the iPhone4 (4th iPhone) not actually the 4th phone, but the 3rd. If you follow my logic.

    iPhone - 1st

    iPhone 3g - 2nd

    iPhone 3gs - 3rd (2.5?)

    iPhone 4 - 4th (3rd)

    iPhone 4s - 5th (3.5)

    Maybe the next one will be the iPhone 4g, or iPhone LTE.

    Who knows?

    At this point, probably no one.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You forgot the seemingly endless pool of suckers

      who seem to think that having one in white or pink etc Also makes it an entirely new phone.

      Oohh a 3GS in white ....droool.

      Fanbois....dontcha just find them as funny as all heck!

  16. GeorgeTuk
    Stop

    Really, rumours front page on El Reg?

    Come on guys unless it is solid I don't care.

    I really don't understand why people get so excited chatting about what might be/might not be on the next phone.

    Its really not that exciting, well for me but maybe because I deal in fact that makes me boring.

    Same for analysts who are just making up rumours to drive people to the blog.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Hey, everyone has to have something to do I suppose!

      All the time this lot are at home wetting themselves over an extra centimetre of space on a mobile phone screen, that means more "resources" like open space are available for the rest of us to get on with "real" hobbies and pastimes!

    2. SuccessCase

      True. The article also claims:

      "The extra fraction of a millimetre is needed to accommodate the electronics behind the ultra high resolution display promised for the next tablet."

      The next iPad is highly likely to be hi-res but we all know Apple have never made such a promise. They never reveal or make promises about features. Sloppy reporting.

  17. DJ Particle

    People won't care about Jobs' worry...

    Basically there was a study a while back that said people will always take the larger screen, even if it means less DPI. Screen size counts more than resolution in the eyes of the general public.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will always take a larger screen?

    Bigger iPhone? Got one, its called the iPad. Ones for my pocket, the others for my bag. I ain't going to start shoving a 6" screened phone in my pocket so this whole bigger screen race is pointless and stupid. IF they can put in a same size unit then fine but I don't want a bigger overall case size thanks all the same.

    Mind you, dunno why I'm worrying, its more than likely complete nonsense. After the rumours around the last iPhone I'm surprised they're even bothering trying to guess on the next one.

  19. TeeCee Gold badge
    FAIL

    And thus it starts.

    I wonder how many other: "This is a great idea, shame Steve said no." projects are lurking in Apple and soon to be trotted out?

    Maybe Apple need to work out what we already know: Say what you like about him, he had an uncanny knack of being *right*.....

    1. GeorgeTuk

      Heard a few already...

      ...something about his own phone network and another which I can't remember.

      They'll be loads and don't forget they will have all been massive successes, oh yes, massive.

      To be fair the man did impress me and he was an individual BUT there are limits to everything. To be fair to Apple they haven't said much recently its just fanbois and people with stuff to flog and write that have been doing all this talking.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple have it all canned

    We can think for ourselves.

    We can think for ourselves.

    We can think for ourselves...................

  21. john devoy

    the iphone doesnt have to be physically bigger to support a 4" screen, it only needs the earpiece/sensor and home button to be moved.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wouldn't that change the display ratio? Or is that not important in your world?

      Geez basic geometry at work here.

  22. Gordon 10

    Wtf

    Is this obsession with screen size? Is it a nerd thing?

    Until the current gen of smartphones can give me the same battery life as my iPad in the current iphone form factor I'm not interested in a bigger screen. Especially since LTE is waiting in the wings which will suck power like Paris sucks other things.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's ok - Jobs is dead.

    He won't mind about the screen size now.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely.....

    Someone has the patent on a phone with a 4 inch screen.... Such a radical idea after all.....

  25. Stevie

    Bah!

    OMFG! Sell all my Apple stock soonest!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obviously bogus

    For shame, Reg. Even the back of the original iPhone wasn't entirely metal since the radio signals have to get out somehow. The next time you want to write about a unibody iPhone please make it an article belittling the idiots who create these rumors.

    Also, thicker electronics necessary to run a higher resolution screen? When has that EVER been the case? Argh, I'm getting a headache from the stupidity...

  27. amanfromearth
    Trollface

    There's much more interesting stuff on iLounge ...

    Here

    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/fanny-wang-offers-custom-coloring-for-headphones/

    There's a company called Fanny Wang who make headphones! Who knew?

    Cue knob jokes etc..

  28. Zbig
    Mushroom

    Yes, there were phones with big screens before...

    ... but it's the Apple who finally got that right.

    Maybe I jumped the gun here a little but I've just patented this phrase and I'm gonna be rich. In your face, fanbois!

  29. Paul McGarry
    FAIL

    Summer

    "Apparently, revision 5 is on track to be introduced in summer of 2012"

    When will authors publishing articles consumed around the world work out that the seasons are not a universal measure of time?

    Early, mid, late 2012? 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th quarter 2012?

    1. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Universal Season.

      In the majority of the Western world, summer is known as 'roadworks'

      1. Steve Renouf
        FAIL

        hmmm...... wonder when summer is for countries on/near the equator?!?

  30. anaru
    Thumb Up

    Jobs was right

    Releasing the 5 in place of the 4S would have led to three different iPhone resolutions in the market - and you would have never heard the end of it from developers. They cant just enlarge the screen and keep the res the same because then they would be going back on their (silly) "retina display" dpi promise.

    HOWEVER, If they release a 4" phone as their next iPhone and retire the 3GS at the same time, there will still only be two iPhone resolutions for developers to code for.

    As for "giving customers what they want" - google Mr Henry Ford's answer to that...

  31. Anoooid
    Go

    If it wasnt for apple you would never have your android. You guys are all brilliant!

  32. John Tserkezis
    Happy

    Not only will they make it, the fanbois will suck it up more than any other previous incarnation.

    Why? Because they're idiots. They'll buy anything.

    Not only talking about Apple fantards here, but all and sundry.

    I remember when small phones were all the rage, users would go into shops and be hell-bent on finding something smaller than what they already had - at any cost. "look at my new phone" they would say, I'd ask where (too small), "it's so cool, I have GPS maps on it, I can watch TV on it, I have four spreadsheets open on it" again, I'd have to ask where, because I can't see it anything on that 1" screen.

    Some time later, presumably when their fingers are riddled with RSI from trying to press buttons that are way too small, and now wearing thick glasses to compensate from the long periods of staring at that tiny screen, now they want big screens.

    The bigger the better. I'm waiting for a tablet that can be used as a phone.

    With a stylish case and shoulder strap, it'll be the next big thing in handbag/manbag accessories.

    Mark my words.

  33. Patrick 14
    WTF?

    I own an unlocked Orange Monte Carlo aka ZTE Skate.

    its got a 4.3" screen but still keeps the 800*480 res, the point is you can make bigger but keep the res of the iphone 4s.

    Yes it will not be retina Display but thats just a fad is it not, I have owned a iPhone 4 in the past and yes the screen is nice, but 4" nicer.

  34. BoxedSet

    When Henry Ford met Steve

    "Any phone you like so long as its cack!"

  35. hazydave

    This makes even more sense than everyone here seems to think

    Ok.. sure, Apple has to compete. And they really have been trying, without yet deviating from their one phone per year model.

    The way they do this is simple: they keep the old models around, now. So at least for GSM, you can still buy new iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and the new 4S models. Given that at least the 4 and 4S are likely to be kept on after the 5 debuts, it's clear they're using this approach to offer a taste of the kind of feature differentiation you get in the Android market.

    And the reason, too, is clear: they're losing market share. A little of that isn't a real problem in a growing market, but too much certainly is. Just ask RIM. Or Nokia. Or Microsoft. Apple's taken the unusual approach, for Apple anyway, of competing on price, too. On contract in the US, the iPhone 3GS is "free". This is a good long-term move for Apple, since the folks buying "free" iPhone 3GS today will more than likely buy an iPhone replacement, and probably a more expensive one.

    It's also clear that technology has moved on. The 3.5" screen on the iPhone today, the 3.5" screen on the first iPhone, the 3.5" screen on the Palm T5 and TX before these, etc. were predicated on a pretty low resolution. It doesn't make any sense to blow 360x480 pixels any larger. But even Apple's admitted that the pixels on the iPhone 4/4S are too small to see... which means, for the average adult user, they're probably well past being useful. A larger screen makes the same resolution much more generally useful. And Apple is currently the only competitive smart phone vendor not to recognize this. They ignore it at their long-term peril.

    And going forward, Apple will presumably do what's best for the Apple of today, and not be haunted by the sillier aspects of SJ's total rule over there.

  36. dssf

    Mine is... than yours...

    For now, I can put my HTC EVO 4G along my friends' iPhones - even the future 5, and I can can can still say, "Mine is STILL bigger, thicker, and heavier" than yours." But, then, they could come back with, "Yours discharges FASTER than mine... mine is more roBUST..."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yeah 4 inches is OK

      but 4.3 inches is better. Galaxy S2 -More is always better.

      You put it next to my colleagues iPhones and it's just way better.

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