“Apple Inc., which is expected to launch its next-generation iPhone later this year, has ordered screens from its Asian suppliers that are bigger than the ones used in iPhones since they debuted in 2007, people familiar with the situation said,” Lorraine Luk and Juro Osawa report for The Wall Street Journal. “Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said.”
“Until now, Apple has never changed the size of the iPhone’s screen, which has always been 3.5 inches from the first model that debuted in 2007,” Luk and Osawa report. “For the next iPhone, which analysts predict will come out in the fall, Apple is working with multiple screen makers including South Korea’s LG Display Co., Japan’s Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc., a new company created last month by three Japanese companies and the government, some of the people said.”
Luk and Osawa report, “‘The smartphone market has become diverse, but the iPhone still sets the agenda,’ with the whole industry watching Apple’s every move, Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Nobuo Kurahashi said. He said that the iPhone’s strength lies in the overall experience including its user interface and applications, and the screen’s size wouldn’t be its defining feature.”
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