The clock is ticking down the days, hours and minutes until Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveils its latest flagship smartphone the iPhone 6. Apple is expected to reveal this hotly anticipated smartphone at a special event on September 9. And with legions of fans and Apple analysts all eagerly awaiting the release of the iPhone 6, rumors about the market leading handsets continue to mount up.
iPhone 6 screen resolution revealed
The latest leaks about the iPhone 6 focus on the screen resolution of the device. It has been thought for some time that Apple has been testing multiple resolutions for the larger display of the iPhone 6, with the Apple following community now strongly expecting a 5.5-inch phablet-sized version of the device to be released. Clearly, changing the parameters of the iPhone will require some technical fastidiousness, and thus Apple has continued to work out the ideal resolution for this forthcoming smartphone in private.
For some time it was reported that Apple was particularly testing a display resolution of 960 x 1704. This particular resolution would have enabled both developers and consumers to smoothly transition the new display, while retaining the sort of high quality graphics that are found in many applications in the Apple App Store. However, a code hidden within iOS 8 files suggests that the resolution could be different to that which many people have expected.
The files in question have been discovered inside the latest Xcode 6 Software Development Kit (SDK) betas for developers, within the development kit’s ‘Springboard’ application. The iOS 8 file in question has been optimized for an iPhone with a resolution of 414 (width) x 736 (height). To explain this number further, this is in fact a point value, whereas the actual resolution will be potentially double these figures.
This would suggest that at least one model of the iPhone 6 will carry a 1,472-by-828-pixel resolution. It is of course possible that the two different models of the iPhone 6 will carry two differing resolutions. But we can be fairly confident that the aforementioned resolution will be the basis of one of these two forthcoming handsets.
Given that the new iPhone 6 is already in its production phase, Apple will already have decided the display resolution of the device, and thus any clues in iOS 8 are obviously pretty solid. A 1,472-by-828-pixel resolution would seem to be absolutely workable with the smaller device, but it is possible that Apple may stretch this even further for the later phablet release. At this point in time, it is not expected that Apple will release the two models of the iPhone 6 concurrently.
However, although these snippets from the iOS 8 operating system give a very strong indication of one possible screen resolution, other sources continue to differ with this information. According to the Russian luxury iPhone modification reseller Feld & Volk, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will carry a screen resolution of 1,704-by-906. This is backed up by an image which they claim is a closer look of the new Apple iPhone 6 display.
This view is not shared by MacRumors, though, as they have taken the time and trouble to count the pixels within the image, and came to the conclusion that Feld & Volk’s estimate was somewhat inaccurate. It certainly seems wise at this point in time to believe the data which has come out of the iOS 8 leak.
iPhone 6 to be delayed?
In addition to the news about screen resolution, there are murmurings, that the release of the iPhone 6 could even be further delayed. The majority of Apple analysts were at one time tipping the iPhone 6 for a September release, and indeed both models were expected to be unveiled together. This has now been pushed back to a presumed September unveiling and October release date for at least one model of the iPhone 6, and the phablet-size version of the handset is expected to be released at a later date still.
Well, the latest indication is that Apple may push the release date back further. Suppliers are currently facing difficulties in meeting Apple’s stringent specifications, and this could either delay the release, or at the very least see that fewer units than expected are on sale when the handset reaches the public domain. Supply chain sources have indicated to Reuters that Apple suppliers are finding it difficult to procure enough display panels for the iPhone 6 after the company made a decision to redesign a key component.
Despite the uncertainty that still surrounds the iPhone 6, Apple stock has performed well in recent days, breaking through the hugely psychological $100 barrier. With the iPhone 6 still expected to be a massive hit, and with analysts predicting that it will outsell even Apple’s prognosis, Apple shares are expected to rise still further when the iPhone 6 is made available to the public.
