After meeting with Apple suppliers, analyst predicts 4.8-inch iPhone 6

iPhone 5.7 (T3 magazine concept teaser 001)

Though we’re just a few weeks removed from the iPhone 5s launch, rumors of Apple’s next-generation handset are already starting to pile up. At least thus far they’ve been fairly consistent: the display is going to get a size bump.

And that’s what Jeffries analyst Peter Misek is predicting too, after returning from a meeting last week with Apple’s Asian suppliers. Misek issued a note to investors this afternoon calling for an ‘iPhone 6’ with a 4.8-inch display…

CNET reports:

“After meeting last week with Apple suppliers in Asia, Misek issued a note to investors on Monday in which he said that the iPhone 6 would offer a 4.8-inch screen. If true, that would be a hefty increase over the 4-inch screen found in the current iPhone lineup.

Misek didn’t reveal exactly what triggered his prediction, but he did note that the new screen size would drive a huge number of upgrades. Around 50 percent of smartphones shipped last quarter had screens larger than 4 inches, compared with just 20 percent a year prior.

“We think the 85M iPhones eligible for an upgrade when the iPhone 6 launches (we think Apple is targeting Sep 2014) could be boosted by another 5-10M from people who skipped the 5S/5C cycle,” Misek wrote.”

Misek joins a long line of pundits and analysts, including the highly accurate Ming-Chi Kuo, in forecasting that Apple will go bigger with the next iPhone. The size predictions seem to fluctuate though, between 4.5 and 6-inches.

Back in September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was testing iPhones with screen sizes ranging from 4.8 to 6-inches. So just what size the handset’s display will be is still a mystery, but bigger seems to be a definite.

The original iPhone had a screen size of 3.5-inches, which Steve Jobs described as ‘really big.’ And it stayed that size until last year, when the iPhone 5 launched with a 4-inch display.