04/04/2014
Let’s not kid ourselves: There’s only one smartphone that really matters, the iPhone.
Samsung may sell more phones overall than Apple, but it’s the iPhone that is still the phone people are most interested in.
The next iPhone is months away, but there’s already a lot of interest in what Apple is planning.
We’ve rounded up all the reports and all the gossip in one place:
*Apple is finally going to make the screen bigger on the Phone!
Multiple reports say Apple is going to release a 4.7-inch iPhone. The current iPhone is 4 inches. That's small compared to most Android phones. Even 4.7 inches is small nowadays. Samsung's Galaxy S5 is 5.1 inches, and HTC's One is 5 inches.
*Apple might even make a giant phone!
This is the wildcard for Apple. It's reportedly looking at releasing a 5.5-inch iPhone in addition to the 4.7-inch iPhone. It's hard to believe Apple would really release a 'phablet,' since it's only released small phones. We hope it's true because phablets may be a little goofy-looking, but they're quite lovely to use. The iPhone is more tablet than phone, so why not give it a giant screen? Apple is said to be struggling with the 5.5-inch screen, and it's supposedly delayed right now.
*What will it look like? No one other than Jony Ive knows right now. But, we found this photo that supposedly came from Apple's manufacturing partner, Foxconn. It shows a redesign for the phone.
*The iPhone 6 will supposedly be thinner. Why? We're not sure. The iPhone 5S is plenty thin, but Apple loves making things thinner.
*The new screen will be sharper.
Apple isn't just making it bigger, but also increasing the resolution of the display, according to multiple reports. It will supposedly use something called 'quantum dots,' which leads to a super-high-resolution display.
*Wi-Fi will be faster on the iPhone 6 than on any other iPhone.
One of Apple's partners, Broadcom, introduced a new Wi-Fi chip, which should make its way into the iPhone 6. Broadcom claims that the new chip will double performance for video and music downloads, improve upload speeds at big public events like concerts, increase Wi-Fi range, and improve battery life.
*The display could be made of scratch resistant sapphire crystal.
Apple could make a more durable screen. It has a factory in Mesa, Ariz., that is reportedly able to produce sapphire-based iPhone screens. Sapphire is the second strongest glassy material after diamonds.
*Apple will reportedly add 'optical image stabilisation' to the camera, which makes photos more steady, and thus of higher quality.
*The optical image stabilisation takes care of the hardware. There are also some new software that might come with the phone. We're expecting Apple to update Apple Maps so it includes transit directions. We're also expecting Healthbook, which would be like Apple's passbook application, except for health information.
*Apple is reportedly going to start manufacturing the 4.7-inch phone in May. And we're expecting a release to the general public in September.
