Throughout December, we heard a lot of rumors that said Apple might be bringing back the 4-inch iPhone form factor. My colleague Luke categorized these rumors as “unlikely,” and yet they continued, perhaps buoyed by the crossed-fingers of women and the tiny-handed. But now a new report says they were unlikely after all.
According to the report, Apple isn’t interested in looking backwards, and is instead looking forward to the possibilities inherent in their larger display handsets. In these reports, sources in Apple’s supply chain allegedly say that the iPhone 6 rumors are just hype, and haven’t made any move to start manufacturing such a handset in the supply chain.
What does this mean? Well, if the report is true, it means — at the very least — that a 4-inch iPhone 6 isn’t coming anytime soon. If Apple’s not working on making one now, it’s probably six to nine months away, at least as far as the timing of past rumor cycles are concerned.
As I said, my colleage here at CoM, Luke, said that he considered a 4-inch iPhone unlikely. Yet the truth is, there’s a lot of clammor for such a device: especially among women, the idea of a 4-inch iPhone is popular. Right now, these people can purchase an iPhone 5s or 5c if they want a 4-inch iPhone, but that won’t be true for long. Isn’t it possible that the next 4-inch iPhone isn’t just a year-old version of the current model, but a smaller screen size as well?
Source: G For Games
Via: ModMyi
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
26 responses to “Is the 4-inch iPhone 6 DOA?”
Good riddance to tiny phones I say. One handed texting?! What were people doing with the other hand anyway?
Driving, holding on to their kid, a package, a bicycle handlebar, being able to open/close doors while typing, holding a fork/eating, etc. etc.
Driving… seriously? I don’t want to live on this planet any longer.
businessman often use their other hand like coffe, bag, or may be handicapped.
I don’t care what you’re doing with your other hand. My point is, using a phone while driving is distracting and shouldn’t be done or encouraged.
A colleague got a standard iPhone 6. The thing is too damn big. The big iPhone 6 looks like a pocket television. Unless you’re using the iPhone as your only digital resource, 4 inches is perfect.
I switched to the 6Plus for the the bigger battery and not the screen, but I’ll never go back to tiny phones. Can still text with one hand, and it fits in my jeans pocket. Done & done.
People complained about the screen being too small and now they complain about it being too big. 4.7″ is the perfect screen size in my opinion and I have no complaints.
Hmmm, are you saying the same people who complained it was too small are now saying it’s too big? Do you think it’s possible there are different people with opposing opinions?
Well that’s implicitly obvious.
The problem with buying a new 5S or 5C is that you’re limited to 16GB.
They really should start thinking of raising that to 32G, but they are just trying to bring in decent profit margins at the lower price points since both of those phones are now the 2nd and 3rd Tier models.
Which is basically worthless memory on a 2015 device.
DOA=Dead on Arrival. The 4 inch iPhone showed up over two years ago and was anything but DOA.
He should have used MIA, not DOA.
My iPhone 4 barely fits in my snap down shirt pocket. I’d have to treat a bigger phone the way I do my iPad – carrying it everywhere.
Pants pockets work well, even for my 6Plus
I think MIA would be a more accurate statement than DOA.
My 2 cents.
I still think there is a market for 4 inch smartphones. It may be shrinking, but I think it’s still viable.
Here’s an idea of what Apple SHOULD do.
1. Introduce a 4 inch model about 6 months after the Flagship 4.7/5.5 inch models are released. This will give the market some time to get the larger screen models out to the market, and for production to get to a point where they are meeting demand and they can now turn on the 4 inch production line.
2. I think Apple should also at that point release the 2nd tier model as a Polycarb version, only they really need to pick better colors that are more luxurious rather than the pastel look.
If they did these two things, Apple would probably maintain their iPhone sales through the lean quarters so there isn’t this zigzag sales spike they have every year. They should probably do the same type of thing with iPad announcements as well. I think they should have their Flagship models in the higher priced cases and then their second tier models in polycarb, this will allow Apple to make a little more distinction visually speaking between their flagship and the lower priced models so the customer can visually see why there is a price difference.
Doubt you’ll ever see a polycarb ipad. Heat dissipation without that metal chasis would be most difficult.
Also I buy apple products specifically because of the high quality build materials, the polycarb completes contradicts their standards and I still don’t get it.
Of course it is absolutely Possible to make new iPhones in 3 sizes.
People, who like 4-inch iPhone more than 4,7-inch, are a huge part of population.
If it was so uncomfortable, how had millions and millions of people been enjoying using iPhones for so many years before it got bigger? 97% satisfaction is impossible when people are not interested in 3,5-4 inch phones.
It makes one thing a fact: people like iPhones small and big. So if Apple wants to give iPhone to as many people as possible, then we are going to see new 4-inch iPhone this year.
Finally, Apple is making 11-inch Macbook Air, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. And these devices are for people who like it in that size.
You just can’t make a big SUV and a very big SUV only. You should also make a crossover too.
Wrong, I sell phones for a living and very few people complain about the 4.7 inch iPhone being too large. In the very rare circumstance someone will buy a 5s because of the screen size. But 99% of iPhone upgrades/new lines are iPhone 6/6 Plus. Not much resistance to giving up their old iPhone for one with a larger screen
Seriously, I don’t think its big enough. The screen for starters, the top bezel is too big. Celestial T is right but I’m not sure driving while texting or anything else for that matter was Apple’s rational for keeping things small. Mind you I rarely use the phone anyway, for me it’s a pocket computer handy for responding to emails, texting (OK, I need the SIM for that) watching ‘Broadchurch’ or whatever. But Apple loosing market share to Samsung ‘fabettes’ was the main reason for the growth wasn’t it?
4 inch does not make a lot of sense anymore. What they should do is get rid of the 4 and 4.7 and instead release a 4.5, 5.0 and 5.5.
There are such minimal differences between a 4.5 to 4.7 and 4.7 to 5.0 that it would be completely ridiculous if they even THOUGHT of doing that. Come on…
I use my iPhone for hiking and the 6 is just too large and insecure in one hand and I wear XL gloves. If they made a 4 inch with new internals I would buy one tomorrow.
5″ phones fit in my pockets fine, I don’t think its such a big deal.