iPhone 5 tipped to have 4-inch 'widescreen' display

By Luke Westaway on 23 May 2012, 10:56am

Apple's next iPhone will have a taller display for widescreen movie viewing, according to reports.

9to5Mac reckons the Californian company is testing a glossy new blower that sports a 3.999-inch screen (but let's just go ahead and call it 4 shall we?), and packs more pixels than the current 3.5-inch display.

The iPhone 4S has a 640x960-pixel resolution. The horizontal resolution is apparently going to stay the same, but the vertical resolution will be beefed up to 1,136 pixels.

That's an extra 176 pixels, meaning that when you spin the iPhone on its side you'll get something very close to a 16:9 aspect ratio. That means you'll be able to play video on the iPhone 5 without having to choose between annoying black bars and cropping the frame.

The site additionally reckons that Apple is testing versions of iOS 6 that will take advantage of the extra screen real estate, cramming in a fifth row of app icons on the home screen.

Intriguing stuff. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S3 has broken cover, all eyes are on Tim Cook and his cronies to see what Apple's next iPhone will look like. The smart phone trend this last year has been for bigger and bigger displays, and while Apple's not known for following tech trends, the iPhone 4S does look tiny compared to current behemoths such as the HTC One X or Lumia 900.

The iPhone 5 will likely get an airing in October, following the iPhone 4S' showing at the same time last year.

What are you hoping to see from Apple's next mobile? A new design? A more powerful processor? Leave your predictions in the comments or over on our Facebook wall.

Comments 6

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anonymous 23 May, 2012 11:01

Fake! Would create fragmentation of apps in app store because of widescreen size jump

anonymous 23 May, 2012 11:04

Good old cnet....reporting on reports

anonymous 23 May, 2012 11:18

Not to critique your sample picture but the phone isn't partially translucent too is it? (rhetorical) ;)

anonymous 23 May, 2012 11:41

To be fair after the lie Samsung told cnet uk about the super fast HSPA thingy, every other tech site copied the article and mentioned cnet. It's as if these people thin that if it's on cnet it's gota be true.

Peter Hudson 23 May, 2012 14:05

Id rather see a 4 inch 16:9 screen than a 5 inch monster display like some have been reporting. and it wouldnt fragment the app store, It would just display the older apps with bars on either side to keep their original aspect ratio. Developers would soon update them to suit the new display.