back to article Phab-u-less: Huge MONSTER iPhone 6 not due until 2015 – claim

An analyst has now foretold that the iPhone 6 – an enlarged "phablet" style device – will not be sold until next year. That's the same chap who warned that Apple's long-rumored iWatch won't appear until Christmas this year. Most industry watchers expected the 5.5-inch model to be revealed along with the standard 4.7-inch one …

  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    To sum it up

    A possible new device which has not been announced might have some production problems therefore delaying the possible announcement and possible availability of a possibly mythical product that may not even exist.

    This is news?

    I have a Yellow Unicorn for sale. Offers please?

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: To sum it up

      Does it talk?

    2. James O'Shea

      Re: To sum it up

      traditionally unicorns are Invisible Pink, not Yellow, and are adopted, not sold.

      1. Fungus Bob
        Boffin

        Re: "Traditional" unicorn colors

        Perhaps this is an Asian unicorn. If it is fluent in Engrish, the value doubles...

        1. Martin Budden Silver badge

          Re: "Traditional" unicorn colors

          African or European invisible pink unicorn?

    3. Gis Bun

      Re: To sum it up

      No news for Apple. They've been hit with snags the last few models.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Gis Bun

        What production snags has Apple been hit with? Whatever issues they've had have not delayed the introduction of anything other than the white iPhone 4, four years ago.

        If they had enough issues with the 5.5" model to actually delay it, and it is proven to be an actual delay, it would be the first time in years. But rumors have suggested for months that the 5.5" model would be released a couple months after the 4.7", so if the 5.5" isn't announced when the 4.7" is, is that a delay? Or has it always been the plan? We may never know. But this analyst will take credit for it, as will those who suggested a late intro was the plan all along. And if they are both introduced at the same time, this analyst will say they managed to fix the production problems just in time, and the other guys will say they changed their plans. They never admit when they're wrong, and most of the time we can't even know for sure when they're wrong.

        There have been several pictures/videos with 4.7" parts, but nothing with 5.5". Unless those are fake, this proves they've started test production runs on the 4.7" model. So I take that to mean they haven't started test production runs on the 5.5", unless it is being made in a different location with better security...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          WTF?

          Re: @Gis Bun

          And already there is a "correction" story out there...

          http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-reportedly-fixes-battery-issue-with-5-5-inch-iphone-6/

          Well that was quick!

  2. bigtimehustler

    So someone who knows nothing about something says something on issue. Great.

    1. Toothpick

      "So someone who knows nothing about something says something on issue. Great."

      The so-called analyst or Jasper ?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Both

          Well, they *do* share an abundant absence of any credible knowledge on the topic.

          Opinions, yes, but that's easy. Anyone can have those. Oh, wait ...

  3. Gordon 10

    I for one

    think His Royal distortionist herr jobs got it right on screen size. My nexus 5 at 4.95" is too big to comfortably span with one hand when held vertically- I wouldn't touch a 5.5" "phone" with a bargepole.

    1. FartingHippo
      Trollface

      Re: I for one

      Small hands, huh? Poor Mrs 10.

      I love my Galaxy Note. Fits my hand perfectly :)

    2. Don Jefe

      Re: I for one

      Got wee little hands eh? Don't let it get you down. Surely that fact would make your willy look bigger.

      1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

        Re: I for one

        Got wee little hands eh? Don't let it get you down. Surely that fact would make your willy look bigger.

        Upvote for humour, grin, but he does have a point. I've had the various options in my hands (no, phones, focus :) ), also in Android form, and there is a point where you have to decide that certain functions are best relegated to a tablet instead.

        I need to have a phone on me, but I don't really want to scale up my pockets. I would be FAR more interested in a phone that had a battery life beyond the attention span of the average Sun reader, but apparently that never makes it as a design criteria..

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          Re: I for one

          When used as a phone, my iPhone 5 and the Lumia 710 and HTC Wildfire that preceeded it were perfect. Nice convenient sizes to fit in the hand, hold up to the ear and not overfill your pocket. My personal favourite being the Lumia, for the big writing (no reading glasses when walking down the street).

          Once you start doing stuff online, or trying to plan a route on a map, then they all feel quite cramped. At that point, the Galaxy Note seems like a really nice device, with a pen for sketching and lots of room.

          My device is mainly a phone. If I've a lot to do, I tether to my iPad. So I'm happy with something smaller. But it's horses for courses.

          Special unfavourable mention must go to Google here, for their gmail app on the iPhone. The font is absolutely tiny, and there are times when I can barely even read emails with my reading glasses on. And they've of course disabled pinch to zoom. I'd use the Apple email client, if it wasn't so crap at coping with both a work and personal inbox. Windows Phone was great at this.

          1. Lallabalalla

            Re: I for one

            Maybe you should give the iPhone's mail client another go. My wife's 5 has got a pop3, an M$ Exchange IMAP and a gmail (IMAP AFAIK) account all living together happily.

            1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

              Re: I for one

              Lallabalalla,

              There's nothing wrong horribly with the Apple mail client. It just only allows you to use one mail account at a time (the same as Android).

              Whereas Win Pho gives you a shortcut to each email account, which if the live tiles now work properly means can check each one at a glance.

              The other problem with the Apple client is that you have to use the same button to change accounts as to access different mail folders within the same account. And it's pretty much random as to which on you get when you press the button. So you want to look in your sent items, you often have to select the mail account again, just in order to then be allowed access to a sub-folder!

              I have 2 work accounts to juggle as well. Hence I set up the gmail app to separate out my personal mail.

              Oh and while we're at it, the Apple addressbook is even shittier at handling multiple accounts. I want to display my personal and key work numbers, and not mix up with the 4,000 others. And then find those by searching. But Apple don't allow that. I've got to wade through thousands or manually change address books each time.

              They basically don't seem to have recognised that a phone is for both work and personal use. Win Pho has the best email and address book, although the new Blackberry seems to be pretty good at this too.

              1. CaptainBlue

                Re: I for one

                "There's nothing wrong horribly with the Apple mail client. It just only allows you to use one mail account at a time (the same as Android)."

                On my iPhone I can collect mail from multiple e-mail accounts and when composing a new one, choose from which account to send it.

            2. Jay 2
              Thumb Down

              Re: I for one

              My main beef with the Mail app on iOS and MacOS is the lack of an advanced "just let me get on with it" option with regard to setting up an email account. Both insist on trying to guess the various settings based on your email address, which never works when you have your own domain. And then there is significant faffing about when trying to set up authenticated SMTP. On that point I never got it to work on MacOS and just gave up and installed Thunderbird. I believe the trick with iOS is to try and set it up, let it fail, then try to set it up again to which is then decides to work.

          2. cambsukguy

            Re: I for one

            I think the WinPhone is *still* great at this.

        2. Don Jefe

          Re: I for one

          The humor angle was what I was aiming for :) I'm 100% for people using what is comfortable for them.

  4. Anonymous Blowhard

    Analysts?

    "In addition, from a technical perspective, we don’t expect sapphire cover, used for the first time on the 5.5-inch model, will easily pass the drop test near term."

    As opposed to the "bending through a right-angle" test?

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/08/iphone_6_teardown_vid/

    I think the word "analyst" might indicate which orifice they pull these "predictions" from.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Analysts?

      Apples and Oranges: a drop test on a 5.5" screen is different to a bending test on a 4.7" screen.

      1. Anonymous Blowhard

        Re: Analysts?

        I take your point, but the video also shows the screen being jabbed with sharp metal objects, which is more a "Golden Delicious" and "Grimes Golden" comparison.

        Looking at the performance of sapphire versus glass in other applications I would expect that the risks associated with using sapphire are more likely to come from things like the the bonding process or the availability and yield of the sapphire glass.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Analysts?

          The screen in the video isn't being constrained by a rigid chassis... it is possible that dropping a phone face-down onto a bit of grit will result in more damage to its screen than jabbing with a knife at a screen that is free to flex.

          But yeah, I'm not sure how mature sapphire bonding techniques are, either.

  5. RustyNailed
    Pint

    Large iPhone Name?

    How about the FatiPhone (pronounced FateePhone) for the larger model, it being somewhat 'larger' than the original?

    (Beer icon to go with the Beer Belly)

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    '[It is] better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.'

    Abraham Lincoln

    Wise words that neither the author or analyst seem to have encountered...

  7. xyz Silver badge

    but shirley...

    ...we'll need the fashion industry to come up with iKecks first so you can slip your iKidYouNot into the pockets...maybe that's what the delay is? Mind you it'll probably end up being be just a normal iphone that comes with a wearable "smart" magnifying glass..... otherwise know as a monocle.

  8. Frankee Llonnygog

    Phablet' iPhone 6 won't come out

    <eom>

  9. Philippe

    We think.

    Analyst starts sentence by "We think.", reader giggles a bit and surf away..

  10. F'tangF'tang

    hmmm

    Oh well... Note 4 it is then...

  11. RubberJohnny

    The large one a few months after the first one is exactly as reported for the last 2 or 3 months.

  12. Gis Bun

    No more

    Unlike the old days [by coincidence when Jobs was alive], there was so much hype about a new Apple gadget. Every day [it seems] someone would released what they thought was accurate information [a good chunk was actually false]. Those days are gone. Now it's more like "A 5.5" screen. OK. What's for lunch?"

  13. southen bastard
    Flame

    still smaller than my dick so as not to cause confusion

    At 5.5 its still smaller than an average guys dick, so "im not happy to see you im a fanboy"

  14. Sandman619o1

    iPhone's Annual Rumor Mill

    It's a fact that every year, months before the iPhone might be released, a claim hits the media that the iPhone is going to be delayed by many months due to a manufacturing issue. Guess what, the closest was the white iPhone which Apple did delay due to the while leaking light, maybe. Truth is that usually theses rumors are false and it's likely that this one is as well.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So we have flakey sapphire glass?

    Seems to me those video creations/leaks may be much needed reality distortion on behalf of sapphire.

    It will maybe like carbon bike frames. They hold the the rider extremely well but any fall that causes the frame to have a bump from the side makes for snap happy cycling.

  16. CaptainBlue
    FAIL

    I still do not see the point of a larger iPhone: the 5S is plenty big enough to read comfortably and use in one hand, whilst still being compact enough to fit in the pocket of my jeans. If I must have a larger screen then there's the iPad Mini. And for anything halfway serious, there's the MacBook (and the iMac for 'proper' stuff).

    I really do not want to have to have a jacket or a manbag just to carry a phone!

    Oh and last month when my girlfriend flushed her 5S down the toilet on holiday so had to nick my 'spare' 5, I used an old Nokia phone which was perfect for - um, remember these? - calls and text messages. Oh and it lasted days on a single charge!

    1. davemcwish

      my girlfriend flushed her 5S down the toilet

      I've heard of this failure mode and always wondered how to perform it. Any insight ?

  17. Euan 1
    WTF?

    Manganese?

    Last I heard "mn" only stands for an element in the periodic table.

  18. Breen Whitman

    Its good that Apple are catching up to consumer demand with a big screen phone.

    It may be too late for one of my graphic designer colleagues. He described his iPhone as "naff" and "mainstream" and bought a Xiaomi Mi3.

    He wears stovepipe pants, thick rimmed glasses, and has one of those weird beards without a mustache so I think hes pretty good with fashion trends.

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