The first iPhone hit store shelves in June 2007. Since then each successive generation has received a bevy of updates, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, and that’s the form factor. For close to half a decade Apple has absolutely refused to budge from 3.5 inch displays. According to a report from Reuters that was filed yesterday, the next iPhone will be different. The next iPhone will have a 4.6 inch screen. To be completely honest, we thought such a rumor was complete and utter bullshit, but then we started thinking … and it actually makes a lot of sense. Last month there was a rumor on The Boy Genius Report that said the Samsung Galaxy S III was going to ship with a 4.8 inch 1080p display. That’s 1920 x 1080 pixels. Such a screen would measure 10.63 cm × 5.98 cm, giving it a surface area of 63.57 cm squared. The new iPad uses a Samsung screen, so let’s assume the new iPhone will as well. Let’s also assume that Apple would double both the vertical and horizontal resolution of the current iPhone. That would mean a final resolution of (960 x 2) = 1920 pixels by (640 x 2) = 1280 pixels. Such a resolution on a 4.6 inch screen would translate to a DPI of 501. Said screen would measure 9.72 cm × 6.48 cm, which means it would have a surface area of 62.99 cm squared, roughly the same are as the rumored Galaxy S III.
In other words, a rumor about a Samsung device kind of makes us want to believe a rumor about an Apple device. It’s all speculation, really, but we’re seriously hoping that Apple does make the iPhone 5, or the new iPhone, or whatever they want to call it, a massive beast that can compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the HTC One X, and whatever the Galaxy S III brings to the table.
What do you think, is 4.6 inches too big? Where would Apple put the home button?!
[Via: Apple Insider]
Update: Before you leave a comment below saying 500+ DPI is insane, we’d like to share this AnandTech article with you that dates back to October 2011. Toshiba of all companies demoed a 6.1 inch screen with a 494.9 DPI. Now making high resolution screens is easy (relatively speaking), but making them in volume, that’s a whole other topic of discussion.