“The majority of leaks and rumors concerning the iPhone 6 suggest that Apple will produce not one, but two models – each one boasting a different display in terms of dimensions,” Mihai Matei reports for G 4 Games. “There’s the 4.7 inch iPhone 6, and rumors have indicated that Apple is also working on a ‘phablet,’ boasting a 5.5 inch panel.”
“The latest rumors now suggest that the larger iPhone 6 will in fact pack a 5.44 inch display, and that, due to the high production costs, the smartphone might be produced in smaller quantities,” Matei reports. “According to the Chinese media, citing supply chain sources, Apple will produce only 10 million 5.44-inch iPhone 6 units throughout the product’s life-cycle. This is due to the fact that Apple is reportedly planning on using sapphire glass in the production of the ‘iPhablet,’ and production costs prove to be a problem.”
Matei reports, “Not too long ago, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (who has a pretty accurate track record when it comes to guessing Apple’s plans), has suggested that only the more expensive, 64 GB 5.44/5.5-inch iPhone 6 could be getting the sapphire glass treatment.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple acquires 21 LuxVue patents with some using synthetic sapphire – May 6, 2014
Apple acquires LuxVue, maker of power efficient micro-LED technology – May 2, 2014
Apple begins shipping sapphire from GT Advanced’s Arizona plant to China ahead of iPhone 6 launch – April 30, 2014
How Apple’s billion dollar sapphire bet will pay off big time – April 22, 2014
Apple sapphire crystal display rumors buoy GT Advanced stock – March 17, 2014
Apple, GT Advanced Technologies, and the ‘new’ vertical integration – February 27, 2014
Apple partner GT Advanced recruiting for Jobs at Arizona sapphire plant – January 21, 2014
Apple patent application reveals sapphire flexible transparent display devices created with Liquidmetal – December 19, 2013
iPhone 6 rumors: Curved display, Liquidmetal, sapphire glass, and more – December 11, 2013
Apple spends over half a billion dollars on rumored iPhone 6 sapphire glass feature – November 29, 2013
Arizona OKs tax break for Apple sapphire glass plant – November 20, 2013
Incentives to lure Apple’s sapphire glass plant to Arizona revealed – November 19, 2013
Analyst: Sapphire likely to be used in new small form factor Apple device (Think iWatch) – November 8, 2013
GTAT able to supply sapphire for over 30 million iPhone screen covers due to Apple funding – November 8, 2013
Apple’s iPhone 6 could feature unmatched sapphire glass display – November 7, 2013
Why Apple’s new sapphire manufacturing agreement is a big deal – November 7, 2013
GT Advanced Technologies spikes on sapphire deal with Apple – November 5, 2013
Apple expands ‘Made in USA’ efforts with sapphire glass factory in Arizona, creating over 2,000 jobs – November 4, 2013
Apple strikes sapphire supply deal with GT Advanced – November 4, 2013
Gorilla glass maker Corning enters into strategic partnership with Samsung Display – October 23, 2013
Sapphire glass may be used in 2014 iPhone Retina display, sources say – September 18, 2013
Vertu COO: Apple investigated sapphire crystal displays, but found them infeasible at this time – June 13, 2013
Corning’s Gorilla Glass vs. sapphire for mobile touch displays – May 28, 2013
Apple’s next iPhone screen could be made of Sapphire – May 2, 2013
Steve Jobs, steel balls and Corning’s Gorilla Glass (with video) – January 11, 2013
That doesn’t sound quite right. By AAPL investing in their own sapphire production facility, based in Arizona, it seems like they are controlling and preventing bottlenecks of sapphire supply. Unless the secondary milling and fabrication of the finished pieces here of overseas is also a limiting factor.
dd
May this. May that. “According to the Chinese media, citing supply chain sources…” Blah, blah.
Ohh, gimme a bloody break!
You are right.
It’s total B S.
There was a “research” article on Digitimes about a month ago stating that the volume of sapphire produced for the coming year was going to be FLAT. No increase in the amount of sapphire created by the market. WHAT the HELL do they think GTAT is doing?? Twiddling their thumbs???
This “story” (from the realm of fairytales apparently) is based on have to go to the current market and purchase sapphire.
Not what Apple is doing, is it. 😛
What a bunch of malarkey. If Apple has demand for 15 million 5.5″ iPhone 6s, it will make 15 million. It’s not going to limit production based on the availability of the screen material. If that is a problem, then Apple will simply not use sapphire glass and will produce more iPhones to sell.
I don’t see a 5.5″ iPhone anyway. It’s just too big. I rarely see anyone with anything approaching that size (I think I’ve seen 2).
This is probably where the wheat gets separated from the chaff. I mean, right now everyone gets the same phone (other than capacity). Since I have been getting the largest iPhone they make, since the iPhone 3, I probably will only get the next 64GB, standard feature model at 4.7″, all depending on cost/performance…
The 5.5″ sapphire is for the ultra luxury.
Let me redefine everybody… People who buy the 5S or next iteration, a new phone not based on last years model.
maybe one chooses the 5.5 > 4.7 just to skip buying the iPad mini…
In my case we already have the mini. :-). But I see what you mean. I envision the iPhone 6 going into my pocket, so I am not sure I want something 5.5 inches long showing through my pant leg. However the 5s barely registers, another .7 inches probably is okay. I hope it’s not going to be much wider if at all. I want to use it one handed and if my thumb can reach around, up and down the far side, without straining, that’s a good thing. If I have to use two hands to do simple tasks, then it’s a failure.
What am I saying? I don’t like the sound of this.
Seriously it has to fit in my jeans front pocket. .
64Gb iPhone 6? I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a capacity bump to 128Gb, partly because full design upgrades are usually accompanied by a capacity bump, but also improvements in camera tech for both still and video mean more space is needed.
Regarding the whole sapphire shortage, I think this is bogus, as Apple now have full control of the supply chain.
I disagree. Apple hasn’t bumped storage capacity for awhile, and there’s really not much need for more than 64GB when media can be downloaded using iTunes Match (unless you have a Windows Phone, in which case you probably need 256GB).
We’ve got 4 Terabyte SSD drives about to hit the market.
YES Apple will bump to 128 GB on iOS devices. Yes indeed.
[Hey, I got that bold tag right! All it takes is coffee.]
BTW: I’ve got 86 GB of tunes on my Macs. You don’t think I want ALL of that on my iOS devices?
Then add in the apps, pictures, videos, books…
I’ve got 150 GB of tunes on my iMac.
You’re slacking, get with the program… 😉
Hmph. Gotta get me more!
I stock up on CDs from Hastings. Spend .99 on a CD, get 10 to 15 of them at a time. Does not hurt to try out a band you don’t know. 🙂
I love hearing new music. Whether I am going to like it is another matter.
It may be that the larger screen model won’t be seen as the flagship model and as such it may be that the sapphire screen is like Touch ID in that it’s not on every model to start with.
There is no real source for any real information…rumor only.
Apple knows the cost of making any size sapphire screen before they got into it.
Notice the article pumping up the 5.5 display, so the bottom will drop out when there is no 5.5, but instead a 5.1 display.
Play on headlines article…Appleinsider chooses their articles more wisely.
someone was seriously short on AAPL and needed it go back under 600
5.5″ is beyond the pale for me. But I’ve been wrong before, gawd knows!
My next iPhone will be the 6. I’m skipping over the 5S to get me some sapphire goodness. 😉