iPhone 6 Release Date & Specs: Apple Testing Bigger Screen With Shipping Starting in August, Report Says
As Apple prepares to launch its latest iPhone in September, the company is testing bigger screens for its devices and working on ways to make a more inexpensive smartphone.
Apple has asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than the four inches featured on its current iPhone 5, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company is also testing iPad tablet screens that are close to 13 inches diagonally, which is bigger than the current iPad's roughly 10-inch screen. The iPad Mini has a screen that measures slightly less than eight inches.
Apple is also working on a smartphone with a less expensive exterior and in the mean time, the company told its manufactures to prepare to ship a refreshed iPhone in late August.
The move is viewed as Apple's attempt to keep up with its competition: Samsung has passed the iPhone manufacturer in the smartphone market by implementing an "all things to all people" strategy. Samsung offers smartphones and tablets in several sizes.
In the first quarter, Samsung was the leading smartphone maker with 33.1% of the market, while Apple trailed in second place with 17.9%, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. Apple still dominates the tablet market, but it shares of 40 percent are down from 58 percent from a year earlier.
"In the long run, we will see touch screens in all sizes as the future vision of the technology industry is to offer the same user experience across all screens," said International Data Corporation analyst Helen Chiang. "The key is to bring down the cost and introduce compelling applications for large-screen devices."
The company is currently working on an inexpensive version of its iPhone with manufacturers in Asia. Apple hopes to bring down costs on the device by using a nonmetal casing, to differentiate itself from the aluminum exterior of the high-end iPhone 5. And suppliers have also started mass producing components for the new iPhone last month. One person revealed to the WSJ that Apple told its assembler, Hon Hai Precision Industry to get ready to ship the new iPhones in late August.
