iPhone 6

Five-inch iPhablet to comprise one out of each four iPhones in 2014

Analysts think Apple will respond to competition by producing not one, but two large-screen iPhone models in 2014. According to Piper Jaffary's Gene Munster (infamous for its Apple-branded television set prediction), the iPhone 6 will make its debut in September 2014 and it’s going to be a “blockbuster” release thanks to a blown up screen.

His peer, Peter Misek over at Jeffries, thinks the iPhone 6 will offer a 4.8-inch screen. If anything, Samsung has managed to prove that phablets sell: the company predicts shipping a total of hundred million units of the five-inch Galaxy S4 smartphone and the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3 devices this year.

Whichever way you look at it, phablets have quickly gone from a niche category to being the hot new form factor. How does this change in market dynamics affect Apple?

Rumor: five inch iPhone 6 will be first phablet optimized for one-handed use

Apple's next-generation iPhone, likely to be marketed under the iPhone 6 moniker, will be akin to today's phablets in that it'll include a five-inch screen with full HD resolution of 1,920-by-1,080 pixels at Retina-friendly 440 pixels per inch density.

The screens itself will be provided by long-time supplier LG Display, which is also believed to be close to striking a deal to supply iWatch OLEDs.

But unlike a bunch of jumbo-sized Android phones that rock screens measuring five or more inches diagonally, Apple's device is ostensibly designed with one-hand operation in mind, according to a new report Tuesday...

Analyst calls for Apple to release larger iPhone 6 next summer

Gene Munster is out this weekend with an earnings preview for Apple, which is slated to announce its Q4 financials on Monday. The Piper Jaffary analyst sees the company reporting big numbers, and has them at a $640 price target.

But perhaps more interesting in Munster's note is that he says he expects the iPhone 6 to be out next summer—months before the now-usual September refresh. He thinks it'll feature a larger display, and is going to be a “blockbuster.”

iPhone 6 may adopt IGZO screens as Sharp finally commercializes tech

Apple has long wanted to make a switch from the traditional LCD IPS display technology utilized on iOS devices to Sharp's cutting-edge IGZO technology.

Unfortunately, Apple's been unable to offer an IGZO iPhone because the struggling Japanese giant had been facing tremendous technical hurdles preventing mass production of these sophisticated panels.

According to the latest supply chain chatter, Sharp has now successfully commercialized production of IGZO panels for smartphones and will begin manufacturing them at its Kameyama Plant Number 2 before the end of 2013...

Analyst believes iWatch will be much more than an iPhone companion

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White issued an interesting research note late yesterday, offering up insight on Apple's future product plans. White claims that after meeting with a component supplier, he has a much better idea of what to expect out of Cupertino.

On the iPhone front, the analyst echoes his colleagues, saying that he is 'very confident' that 2014 will be the year of the larger iPhone—and for what it's worth, he's saying 5-inches. But his most interesting comments are in regards to the oft-rumored iWatch project...

DisplaySearch: Retina iPad mini, larger iPhone in the pipeline

Highly-regarded NPD DisplaySearch issued a new research note late last night, offering up several bold predictions for Apple's future product plans. It believes the company is preparing to revamp the displays across nearly all of its devices.

Among the forecasts, the marketing research firm says it agrees with the rumors that the new iPad mini Apple is expected to unveil later this month will have a Retina display. And it also concurs with the ongoing 'larger iPhone screen' chatter...

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

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...

Jumbo-sized ‘iPhad’ would be huge in China, but…

In astronomy, it is known as the 'Goldilocks Principle,' where Earth is located not too close to the Sun but not too far away. The 'just right' thinking needs to be applied to calls for a larger-screen iPhone, according to one analyst. While an iPhone with a larger screen is needed to increase demand in China, anything larger than a five-inch display risks creating an 'iPhad' that's part iPhone and part iPad...

Apple updates apps with support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 7. Wait, what?

Apple posted tiny updates for a number of its apps this week, including iMovie, iPhoto, Pages and more. And while the updates themselves seem insignificant—most of their change logs read "addresses compatibility issues"—they may not be.

It's been discovered that all of these apps, and several others from third party developers, now show that they've been "optimized for iPhone 6" in their Compatibility sections on the App Store. Does this mean the iPhone 5S is actually the iPhone 6?

Update: as noted by several commenters below, it appears that Apple either has a major glitch in its iTunes backend, or is totally trolling us. Users are seeing "optimized for iPhone 6, 7" and so on, depending on their region. We have updated the title of the post to reflect this.

What would it take for you to upgrade from your iPhone 5?

It's arguably the worst kept secret in modern technology. In fact, it's hard to really call it a secret anymore, because anyone with even a passing knowledge of smartphones will know that Apple tends to announce and release new iPhones around August/September/October time.

That's why rumors start to really heat up around now, and photos of supposed screens, random cables attachments and claimed rear covers begin cropping up with increasing frequency. It's as predictable as night turning to day, and we love it.

One of the perennial questions though is one that I'm being asked on a regular basis, and not just by techy types. The question is a simple one: what will Apple announce and will I want to buy it?

Impressive iPhone concept shows iOS 7 running on a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge display

Now that Apple has unveiled iOS 7, and we know what its next generation software is going to look like, it's time to start thinking about its next-generation handset. No, I'm not talking about the iPhone 5S that's expected this year. I'm talking about after that.

Well if you ask the folks over at ADR Studio, they think it's going to sport a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge display and a fingerprint scanner. The design team has put together an impressive iPhone 6 concept that mixes their creativity with ongoing iPhone rumors...

New iPhone 6 concept has a 4.8-inch edge-to-edge display and 3D camera

With this year's iPhone release expected to look and act very similar to its predecessor, concept designers have already set their sights on the next version of the handset. Earlier this month we saw mockups for a waterproof iPhone 6 that could charge wirelessly.

And today we've got another one for you. This one comes from the folks over at ConceptiPhone, the same team behind yesterday's iOS 7 concept, and it features a sleek new contoured design, a 3-dimensional iSight camera, and an edge-to-edge display...