Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been rumored to be working on a nearly 6-inch smartphone for quite some time, and now that rumor has reared its ugly head yet again. This time the rumor comes from the Japanese version of Yahoo! News.
Apple’s big-screen phone not the iPhone 6
This latest report indicates that the 5.7-inch smartphone Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is supposedly working on will not be the iPhone 6. Instead, the report indicates that this will be an entirely new smartphone line. It also suggests that the iPhone 6 will be out in September, but this big-screen smartphone will be out earlier this year, possibly in Mat.
The report from Japan’s Yahoo! Finance doesn’t appear to give a source, although it’s pretty hard to tell from the translation provided by Google Translate. Also there’s a little confusion about whether the new bigger smartphone or “phablet” will run on Apple’s A8 chip, which would be the next version of that chip, or the A7, which is currently in the iPhone 5S. The Japanese report seems to suggest that Apple’s phablet will run on the A7 chip, while the A8 chip won’t appear until the iPhone 6 launches in September.
Chinese report also suggests Apple will launch phablet
The Japanese report does come a few days after a separate report posted on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo. According to this report in Chinese, the claims of a bigger 5.7-inch smartphone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were leaked by sources at Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd (TPE:2354). It suggests that this year’s iPhone will be a “one-time exception,” launching in two sizes: a 4.7-inch iPhone and a 5.7-inch iPhone.
The report also said those sizes may not be precise as of yet. In addition, the tipster claims both new iPhones will have biometrics standard on them. It indicates that the fingerprint scanner that’s in the iPhone 5S should be on both of them but that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might add iris recognition as well.
