14 DAY TRIAL // Months worth of checks with Apple’s supply chain have indicated that the company is switching to bigger screens in the next generation of iPhones. Recent developments seem to corroborate these claims.
There are more and more reports citing sources close to Apple’s industry partners as saying that the Cupertino giant is adopting 4-inch displays in the next iPhone iteration.
For example, Rene Ritchie of iMore said his sources had learned that Apple was launching a sixth-gen iPhone with a 4-inch screen this fall. The device also boasts a smaller dock connector, according to the blogger.
Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes has heard from industry sources with knowledge of Apple’s short term plans that TPK Holding and Wintek are no longer benefiting from Apple orders, as the Cupertino giant has adopted new screen technologies for its next-generation iPhone.
These will be in-cell touch panels reportedly made by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD) in Japan, according to the same people.
A WSJ report corroborates these claims, revealing this week that Apple has “ordered screens from its Asian suppliers that are bigger than the ones used in iPhones since they debuted in 2007,” citing familiar with the situation.
Apple has also reportedly given the go-ahead to these suppliers to start producing the screens next month.
Most industry experts agree Apple won’t be releasing its next iPhone model at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Instead, the launch will reportedly occur sometime in fall, around the same time the iPhone 4S debuted last year.
Unlike last year, though, this year’s overhaul is said to be radical. Not as much because Apple somehow stumbled upon a brilliant design all of the sudden, but because it’s imperative for the company not to launch three identical-looking iPhone iterations in a row.