iPhone 5 to have 4.6 inch screen? Naaaah

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iPhone-4s-thumb-3.jpgLike the sound of a 4.6 inch screen in your iPhone 5? Well forget it; despite what the latest bout of Apple rumours are saying, we just can’t see it happening. Here’s why.

So, according to a Reuters source:

“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.”

To begin with, the Maeil Business Newspaper aren’t exactly known for their Apple exclusives, and anyone can point to an “unnamed industry source”. Even their rumoured launch date feels well offer, with a “second quarter” release coming far too soon after the iPhone 4S.

But more importantly, in terms of design it just doesn’t add up for Apple. It would totally screw up the quality of their Retina Display, dropping the pixel density from 326 DPI on the iPhone 4S to 250 DPI. Even a significant resolution jump would struggle to keep the quality up.

And then of course, there’s the 3.5 inch sweetspot that Apple have landed at. From iPod touch to the entire iPhone line, 3.5 inches has proved the perfect one-handed, one-thumb touch size. It would be bizarrely out of character for Apple to enter into a battle of the screen sizes like the Android and WP7 competition are tied up in, while investors would likely start getting a little hot around the collar if Cook green-lit an idea that went totally against the late Steve Jobs’ consistent;y successful design nous.

So, er, no. No 4.6 inch iPhone 5, if you’re asking us.

Gerald Lynch
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