Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6 in late September, analysts predict with reportedly the largest pre-order ever — 80 million units.
The new iPhones will have screens measuring 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches (versus 4 inches currently) to compete with the army of larger Android smartphones on the market, particularly Samsung’s Galaxy phones.
“Apple may choose to launch the bigger handset at a later date, but there’s no denying that consumers have a growing appetite for bigger screen phones,” Laptop Mag editor and chief Mark Spoonauer told MarketWatch.com. “A larger screen will also allow Apple to cram in a bigger battery, [addressing] another huge complaint about the iPhone 5S.”
Apple’s former CEO, the late Steve Jobs, wasn’t keen on bigger smartphones. “You can’t get your hand around it,” he said at a 2010 news conference. “No one’s going to buy that.”
But smartphones with 5-inch displays now account for one-third of the market, according to analyst firm Canalys. Over 279 million smartphones were shipped in the first quarter, up 29 percent from the year-earlier quarter.
But shipments of smartphones with 5-inch and larger screens rose 369 percent over the same period. “The trend is unmistakably toward larger-screen handsets at the high end of the market,” Canalys concluded.
So why did Apple hold off? A 5.5-inch iPhone, subsidized by wireless phone providers, would make consumers think twice before purchasing an unsubsidized iPad Mini, says Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics. “The larger iPhones may accelerate a fresh push toward larger-screen tablets,” he says. “The tablet category will need to innovate to differentiate from increasingly outsize smartphones.”
Apple is to report 2nd quarter earnings Tuesday after the close.