By Stephen Schenck | February 5, 2013 12:37 PM
Despite an absence of hard evidence to support such a thing, theories about Apple introducing a larger-screened iPhone sometime over the course of the next year refuse to die out. We’ve already heard a whole mess of rumors about the possibility of a 4.8-inch iPhone, either arriving late this year of sometime in 2014. The latest voice to weigh-in on the subject is an analyst at Barclays Capital, championing the idea that Apple could introduce a 5.0-inch iPhone phablet sometime in that same year-end timeframe.
Honestly, we’re inclined to put a whole lot less faith in this than previous rumors, if only because it sounds very much less rooted in any sort of (even nebulous) industry sources, and instead consists of a lot of wishful thinking based on market trends. Then again, that’s just what these analysts are paid to do, so perhaps the logic behind these claims is worth some due consideration.
Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes believes we’ll see both a new flagship iPhone and a low-cost model sometime during the middle of this year, before this five-incher comes around either in the fourth quarter or early 2014. Perhaps the most interesting thing about his theory is just how large a device Apple might be looking to, which he squarely frames as a phablet rather than simply the larger smartphone still in the four-inch range we’ve been talking about so far.
What do you think? If you had any input into Apple’s design process, would you rather see a 4.8-inch iPhone or something a little more phablet-sized?
