For those eagerly awaiting the new iPhone as well as the specs that it will possess, we have some news to share. According to several sources, Apple has begun the process of placing orders with South Korean and Japanese suppliers for larger 4 inch touch screens.
According to said sources, the screens will measure 4 inches corner to corner, representing a 30% increase over the current 3.5 inch screens we spend time staring at on our 4 and 4S versions of the device. Thus far, the screens are being ordered from three Asian suppliers: LG Display Co. (Korea), Sharp Corp. (Korea) along with Japan Display Inc.
Production is believed to commence as early as June, allowing the phones to be ready for market come August of this year. This is in line with past launch dates and timelines for the company in bringing products to market.
The decision to go with larger screens is clearly a reactive measure against Samsung, who are unquestionably the Cupertino, California company’s main competitor. Samsung’s latest Smartphone, called the Galaxy SIII features a whopping 4.8 inch touch screen as well as a strong dual-core processor. 6 million of the devices have already been pre-ordered in the UK. The company also expects to sell 45 million Smartphones in the first quarter of the year, outselling the iPhone in that timeframe while in turn becoming the largest manufacturer of such devices in the world.
It will be interesting to see what features the iPhone 5 will have to not only differentiate it from its rivals’ devices, but also to top themselves and the iPhone 4S. According to a South Korean newspaper, Apple will use a similar “retina” display found in the latest iPad. They will most certainly need more than that to continue to dazzle shareholders and customers alike.