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The Wall Street Journal has just confirmed that Apple is indeed preparing to break away from its existing 3.5-inch panels in favor of a display measuring “at least 4 inches diagonally.” iPhones have been of the same 3.5″ panel right from the beginning when the first gen iPhone were launched way back in 2007. It’s going to be a different story for the next iPhone — often dubbed the “iPhone 5’, however, with “people familiar with the situation” claiming that Apple has already ordered screens of “at least 4 inches” from its Asian suppliers.

Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said. Manufacturers say Apple has placed an order for larger display screens for the next generation of iPhone. The WSJ’s Juro Osawa tells Deborah Kan about what’s in store for the new device.

The move suggests that Apple is trying to make its popular smartphone more appealing amid intensifying competition from rival Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea. Samsung, which became the world’s biggest cell phone maker in the first quarter, recently unveiled its new flagship smartphone with a 4.8-inch display, one of the largest smartphone screens.

A new iPhone with a larger screen wouldn’t necessarily mean that Apple is making changes to its products because of what rivals are doing, said Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Nobuo Kurahashi.

[via - WSJ]

Sometime back iLounge reported that Apple is seriously looking to move to a 4-inch display in iPhone 5 by just increasing the height of the screen and keeping the width the same as iPhone 4S. There is this website Ciccarese Design started by Macrumors which has shared some higher quality mockups of how this taller iPhone 5 might look like. Its pretty interesting:

Macrumors goes on to say that, increasing the diagonal measurement of the iPhone display from 3.5 inches to 4 inches while maintaining the same width as the current display adds approximately 11 mm (0.45 inch) to the height of the display. With iLounge’s report indicating that the new iPhone’s body will measure in at approximately 125 mm, which is 10 mm taller than the iPhone 4S, the spacing for the components above and below the display would remain roughly the same.

The mockup also shows a smaller dock connector as has been rumored by several sources, as well as a flat metal panel in the central portion of the rear shell of the iPhone, in line with iLounge’s claims.

Part leaks from iPhone 5 are beginning to show up, with component vendor SW-BOX.com having recently added a new headphone jack claimed to be from that very iPhone 5 device (via Cydia Blog). The new part joins a claimed micro-SIM tray that surfaced on the site several weeks ago and home buttons that appeared on several sites late last month.

The site claims the new component is compatible only with an “iPhone 5″ device, and claims the cable is “clearly for the new iPhone.” The component can be purchased for $7.71.

The same site showed off a SIM tray claimed to be from Apple’s next-generation iPhone earlier this month. That component sported subtle differences when compared to the SIM tray design found in the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4

If this part turns out to be legitimate, it will be a significant departure from the component organization in the current iPhone. In the iPhone 4 and 4S, the headphone jack, volume buttons, and mute switch are grouped together on a single component, while this new part associates the headphone jack with the earpiece speaker and Wi-Fi cabling.

It is not terribly unusual for Apple to tweak the organization of components, and the new part leak offers essentially no information on any potential changes to the device’s form factor, but with part leaks beginning to accelerate it may not be long before more substantial parts begin showing up.

Source – iMore

Dailymail from the UK is reporting that according to a Korean press the next iPhone will appear in the summer and will have a 4.6-inch high-resolution display. Apple has already started to order panels of providers, says newspaper Maeil Business Newspaper , citing unnamed industry sources:

Korean sources are often reliable indicators of the likely form – and date – for upcoming devices, as Korean plants supply screens and processors for many hi-tech companies, including Apple. Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

I still dont believe that Apple might resort to 4.6″ or even 4″ screen, if they do this will be a major change as till date Apple retained the screen diagonal of 3.5-inch from the phone’s launch in 2007.

iLounge shared some fresh iPhone 5 rumors which might come true. Jason Horwitz writes that the next-gen iPhone will come with a larger 4inch screen that will have the same width of 4S but a taller height sporting a new aspect ratio for the iPhone.

What we’ve learned: the new iPhone will indeed be longer and thinner than the iPhone 4 and 4S. Approximate measurements are 125mm by 58.5mm by 7.4mm—a 10mm jump in height, nearly 2mm reduction in thickness, and virtually identical width. According to our source, Apple will make one major change to the rear casing, adding a metal panel to the central back of the new iPhone. This panel will be flat, not curved, and metal, not ceramic. Our artist’s rendition provides a rough idea of what this change will look like; it echoes the current-generation iMac design, to be sure.

Check this mockup:

Horwitz goes on to say that the iPhone 5 make use of Gorilla Glass 2, a material which provides as much strength as the Gorilla Glass with a thinner form factor. The report also notes that Apple’s next iPhone will introduce a new and smaller dock connector.

Apple will also introduce its new Dock Connector on the new iPhone. The new port will be a little larger than the bottom speaker or microphone hole on the iPhone 4/4S. It’s believed to have fewer pins than the prior 30-pin Dock Connector, perhaps only 16, and the shape of the hole is apparently closer to a pill shape than the prior rounded rectangle. It will be used on all upcoming devices, including an update to the iPod touch that’s expected this year, and will almost certainly feature a similarly updated screen and CPU.

Lets wait for October 2012.. Yeppieee

Source – iLounge

Apple’s iPhone is now the most profitable business in the world. The company is going to generate $45-$50 billion of profit this year. That’s way more than the next-most-profitable company in the world, ExxonMobil which generated about $30 billion of profit last year. Apple’s iPhone business alone is likely more profitable than any other company in the world.

Apple’s overall profit margin is 30%. The iPhone, most analysts agree, is more profitable than some of Apple’s other products. So perhaps the iPhone business has a profit margin of, say, 35%. The iPhone business, meanwhile, is currently generated about $100 billion of revenue per year. So it seems likely that the iPhone business is generating ~$35 billion of profit per year. That’s more than ExxonMobil.

Five years ago, the iPhone didn’t exist. Apple invented it out of thin air and then launched it in the summer of 2007.
In other words, the Apple division built around a product that didn’t exist five years ago is now the most profitable company in the world. WOW!!!

Source – Business Insider

The Taiwan based Central News Agency is reporting, citing research analyst David Hsieh, that the iPhone 5 will incporate “in-cell” technology which will result in a potentially much thinner device. iPhone 5 is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2012, is likely to adopt in-cell touch panels rolled out by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD), according to sources in Apple’s supply chain.

An improvement in yield rates of the in-cell touch panels at Sharp and TMD has persuaded Apple to choose to cooperate with Japan-based panel makers, the sources noted. Sharp will produce the in-cell panels at its 5.5G lines, while TMD will utilize its 6G lines for production, indicated the sources, adding that the two makers will begin to ramp up in-cell panel production in the second quarter of 2012.

The adoption of the in-cell touch panels, if realized, will also have a significant impact on the operations of Apple’s current touch panel suppliers TPK Holdings and Wintek, which are specialized in the production of glass on glass touch solutions currently, said the sources.

Source – Digitimes

If this comes true, we will be able to touch and feel Liquidmetal iPhones very soon. Korean publication ETNews.com has claimed and industry sources confirmed Apple will use “liquid metal” technology to make a thinner and lighter next-generation iPhone. Apple had earlier acquired rights to the patented amorphous metal alloys from ‘Liquidmetal Technologies’ way back in August 2010.

According to industry sources, the next flagship phones of the companies are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquid metal for iPhone5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts. The new phase of the rivalry is because neither one of them can get a decisive edge over the other solely with its OS and AP specifications, features or design.

Earlier yesterday MacRumors pointed out, the website has a less than perfect track record. Many industry analysts expect Apple to move its iPhone release window to September or October due to the launch date of the iPhone 4S in 2011. The original iPhone had an aluminum back with a plastic strip along the bottom. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS had (and have) full plastic backs. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S have chemically treated glass backs with stainless steel antenna arrays.

Heres what ETNews had to say:

iPhone5 is likely to take liquid metal, an alloy of zirconium, titanium, nickel, copper and so forth having an outer surface smooth like liquid. The new iPhone is expected to make its debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco in June.

This time iPhone 5 rumors has surfaced from CNET pointing to a modified Apple chip, more memory, new chassis, and a bigger screen.

Heres the exact specifications:

Display and chassis: Let’s start with a report at Business Insider, which cites a research note from Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White (returning from a tour of component suppliers in China). White says the next iPhone will have 4-inch screen and “sleek look that we believe will require a unibody case.”
Big launch: White ventures that the launch will come in August or September and believes the “iPhone 5 ramp…could be extraordinary, dwarfing previous launches and driving the stock closer to our $1,001 price target.”
A5X chip and memory: Next up is a report from 9to5Mac, claiming that the “actual next-generation iPhone is specifically said to not include the iPhone 4/4S design, but Apple is testing these new devices in older casings to throw off leaks.”
A prototype of the next-gen iPhone uses a derivative of the A5X processor used in the new iPad, according to the Apple-centric site. But like the gen 3 iPad the new iPhone will have 1GB of memory.

TV Tokyo’s “World Business Satellite” show broadcast a report on Monday that included footage of a personnel recruitment office for Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, as noted by Macotakara

In one recorded scene, a woman asked a Foxconn recruiter how many people the factory is looking to hire. ”We’re looking for 18,000 employees…for the fifth-generation phone,” he said. ”Is that because demand is high for the ‘iPhone 5?’” she asked. ”That’s right. It will come out in June.”

Though the iPhone 4S is Apple’s actual iPhone 5, Chinese pundits have continued to refer to the upcoming sixth-generation handset as the “iPhone 5.”

According to the report, Foxconn already employs 80,000 workers at its Taiyuan plant. The manufacturer has long been Apple’s principal partner for producing the iPhone. Just last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited an iPhone production line at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China.

Foxconn made headlines last week when it announced that it was buying a 10 percent share of Japanese LCD maker Sharp. The deal prompted Monday’s report from WBS, as the reporter was investigating struggles within the Japanese LCD panel industry and efforts by Korean and Taiwanese companies gain share as a result.

WOW – Looks like Apple upcoming next-get iPhone [5] will sport a sharper and bigger 4.6-inch “retina” display might be launched around the second quarter, a South Korean media reported yesterday according to Reuters. Reuters says Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

Samsung, which is also the biggest challenger to Apple in smartphones, uses 4.6-inch OLED display for its flagship Galaxy S II smartphone, introduced in April last year. The high-definition “retina” display containing several times as many pixels within the same area– is used in the latest iPad released earlier this month.

iPhone 4S was introduced in October 2011. But 9t05Mac has a different view. They did a poll on screen size preference for the next iPhone. Around 60,000 votes… here is the result link on 9t05Mac:

We’re not putting a lot of faith in this report, even though we’ve heard that Apple has been considering a bigger display in its next iPhone.. Perhaps Apple is playing a joke on someone.

I too believe Apple might go with 3.5-inch display for the time being. But we never know, right!!!

Source – Reuters

Usually Apple releases a new version of iPhone each year in June or July. This year it could be September or October launch for iPhone 5. Japanese website Macotakara reported on Monday that Apples iPhone 5 will be launched by the fall this year. BGR also reported yesterday that the device will be released in either September or October, and Apple’s future smartphone launches will remain on a fall cycle in coming years. The report reaffirms an exclusive BGR report from last year, which stated that Apple will launch a new iPhone with a revamped antenna system and a unibody aluminum design this fall.

[via - BGR]