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Bloomberg: Apple to introduce larger, curved screen iPhones in Q3 2014, enhanced pressure sensors for later models

curve

Concept render by <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Brilliant-iPhone-6-Design-with-Fingerprint-Scanner-and-Curved-Glass-Envisioned-Video-5.jpg/">Federico Ciccarese</a>

Bloomberg is reporting that “sources familiar with the plans” say Apple is planning to release two new iPhone models next year with curved displays. The two phones would have 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch displays respectively, both substantially bigger than the 4 inch Retina Display currently offered in the iPhone 5s and more in line with Samsung’s S4 and Note 3.

Assumedly, the two new phones will be the successors to the iPhone 5s and 5c, released in September. Bloomberg says the new devices will launch in a similar timeframe.

Two models planned for release in the second half of next year will feature larger displays with glass that curves downward at the edges, said the person, declining to be identified as the details aren’t public. Sensors that can distinguish heavy or light touches on the screen may be incorporated into subsequent models, the person said.

The report also details that Apple is actively working on pressure-sensitive display sensors. However, this functionality (which can tell the difference between light and hard presses on the screen) will not be part of the 2014 iPhone lineup and is currently “planned for a later model”, according to the article.

Rumours of a larger-screened iPhone in the pipeline have picked up in recent months, such as this  recent report in the Wall Street Journal and this report from DisplaySearch that lines up with the screen size dimensions discussed by Bloomberg closely. That being said, Bloomberg is the first major publication to mention a curved screen specifically.

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Comments

  1. Elad Ben Hamo (@Elads_B) - 10 years ago

    Concept looks really bad…

  2. Túlio Fonseca - 10 years ago

    This is big amount of crap… How could Bloomberg report on such a baseless subject?!

    • tallestskil - 10 years ago

      Apple + article + no content = money.

      • Juan Esteban Jimenez - 10 years ago

        totally agree, don’t think Apple is that interested in the curved technology just to follow the rush of LG and Samsung in this specific area, what a LOAD of crap!!!!!

  3. My name is cletus

  4. alexanderbeauvais - 10 years ago

    Not sure that I like that idea, but we will just have to wait and see, won’t we.

  5. Shahab 21 (@Shahab_21) - 10 years ago

    Trust me Apple is a late adapter in technologies like Curved Display, they won’t be using it unless they are sure it is useful feature.
    Mark my words the next iPhone won’t have curved display, no source.

  6. Yes, and they will run iOS 6. What an idiot

  7. all52cards - 10 years ago

    Apple is planing to switch to sapphire for its screens and curved sapphire screens would be a bit hard to manufacture. Curved screens just seem too gimmicky for Apple to actually use. For a phone, I see no advantages, only disadvantages. But for a watch, yes.

  8. Alan Goswell - 10 years ago

    I thought this blog was Apple ‘intelligence’… I believe there’s another site for Apple Rumours!

  9. rogifan - 10 years ago

    Pure click bait, nothing more. I’m sure Apple tests lots of shit, doesn’t mean they’re going to become products for sale.

  10. NQZ (@surgesoda) - 10 years ago

    Why curve horizontally and not vertically? Makes absolutely NO sense to curve horizontally.

    • beta382 - 10 years ago

      Why curve period? Personal opinion on the stupidity of curved phone screens aside (Would be a usability nightmare, imagine having to do anything when the edges curve away from you), it would make it so much more prone to scratches while in the pocket with other items.

  11. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Shouldn’t they be obligated to at least fake a “Why” for such a stupid article?

  12. t3d (@robotstorm) - 10 years ago

    Isn’t it curved the wrong way in the rendering? It should curve inward to follow the general shape of your head, not curve away from it.

    • NQZ (@surgesoda) - 10 years ago

      There are two currently available curved glass phones…the LG Flex (which is curved vertically and inward to line up with the side of your face), and the samsung galaxy round, which is curved horizontally but inward (opposite of the render on this article). IMHO, the LG Flex is the better design…I don’t see why it makes any sense to curve a phone horizontally *at all* — inward or outward, but on second thought, I think it would be a good design if it was curved slightly horizontally inward, and moreso curved vertically inward (ie. like a ball).

    • Piliger Black - 10 years ago

      Exactly. It should be concave and not convex…….. DAFT !!!

  13. Lars Pallesen - 10 years ago

    A 5,5″ iPhone with a curved display? Consider me skeptical – veeery skeptical. OK, stark that. It’s the dumbest rumor I’ve heard all year.

  14. Dime09 (@dime09) - 10 years ago

    Oh look, APPL shares are struggling to rise above $520, lets post some more crap about what Apple’s has in the pipe line to try get theses share prices to rise a bit. Pathetic Appleheads!!!

    • rettun1 - 10 years ago

      Well you seem to understand it all. Make sure to keep posting back every few articles to get it through our thick skulls. My big dumb Applehead >.< I'm too astupid to make up my own mind! Oh well. Thanks!!

  15. hmurchison - 10 years ago

    Love the idea of a larger form factor iPhone. Curved glass is pointless on a small screen.

  16. Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) - 10 years ago

    Curved glass is pointless on any screen that isn’t wrapped around your field of vision. Apple has already experimented with different iPhone sizes – this goes back to before 2007. Curved glass? Like Samsung or LG, kings of disposable chintzy crap? No, never going to happen.

  17. beta382 - 10 years ago

    I just switched to iPhone, after years of wishing I had one. If they go the route of a curved screen, I’ll have to switch back to Android (or WinPhone 8, God forbid), something I don’t want to do.

  18. TrevorKTaylor - 10 years ago

    From the wording it sounds like a plateaued screen with curved edges that will flow with the edge of the bezel. Don’t like the idea, but it’s better than curving the whole screen. Like was mentioned before, the only reason to curve a display is if it wraps around your field of vision. On a phone you’re just opening yourself up for unnecessary product QC issues…

  19. drtyrell969 - 10 years ago

    Awesome! Android 2012! With built-in Tyranny Sensor!!!!!!!!

  20. Pierre Calixte - 10 years ago

    curved glass for an iphone is not gonna happen but curved glass for a pair of wrap-around glasses now we’re talking.

  21. Marc Plus (@stakwild) - 10 years ago

    If Apple was to release a “phablet”, it would be pretty ridiculous to make it use a 5.5″ display, missing an opportunity to simply take the retina iPad mini screen and cut it in half which would make it exactly 5.7″, not 5.5″.

    That makes that curved display rumor even less credible.

  22. Patrick Turner - 10 years ago

    I could see Apple selling a larger iPhone such as a 4.7/5.5 inch phone and branding it as the iPhone Pro while the cheaper, 4 inch model would be called the iPhone Air.

  23. Nik Iafrancesco - 10 years ago

    I think the larger displays are a no-brainer; it’s clearly the direction we’re moving in. I agree the renders look a little odd, and apple may not be the first to make curved displays work; but either way the next iPhone should look considerably different from the current models.

  24. Awe Wyld - 10 years ago

    Blunderbuzz is reporting straight from the bazoo of a “wag that oughta know” that the convex screen on Apple’s next iPhone will allow users to better see the reflection of people sneaking up on them beyond their peripheral vision; the screen will be laser etched with the message, ‘People are closer than they appear’.

  25. cliffworkman - 10 years ago

    Agree that the curved screen makes no sense; the larger screens however are long overdue. After owning nothing but iPhones since first released I switched to the GS3 last year due to Apple’s reluctance in producing a larger screen phone. After a year of using a 4.8” phone, I could never go back to Apple’s current tiny format. A 4.7” offering by Apple would be great so that I can get myself back into a total Apple ecosystem. Since these devices are used for soooo much more than just a phone, the usability and functionality of the 4.7 to 4.8” screen should eventually obsolete Apple’s current size offering. For those that use the phone for nothing but sending and receiving calls, they might stick with the current format.

  26. I think they’re on the right track. I think Apple may have a larger screen next time around. I don’t think they’ll offer two new sizes, rather a 5C-like model with a 4 inch screen and a 4.7 new model. That would result in a screen that is 4.5 inches tall, a half inch increase and 2.25 inches wide, growing by 0.25 inches. However, only if they maintain there 16:9 aspect ratio – which I think they will. This way developers wouldn’t have to redesign their apps for the larger screen, allowing old apps to auto-enlarge and then developers could redesign for the larger screen and auto-shrink new apps for the older models. I think an enlarged screen would come with a smaller bezel, about 50% smaller left and right of the screen like the iPad Air, and smaller top and bottom – albeit I am unsure by how much, as it depends if they’ll move the camera to one side of the speaker. I think they sell the larger screen on that it’ll be 18% larger (4.7 over 4), resulting in a 45% larger surface area – while only adding a fraction of that to the surface area of the phone. AKA a lot more screen for very little in terms of size, and they’ll counter act the dimensional increase by reducing weight and thickness. Another obstacle is if they’ll make the home button smaller – or larger, by taking a page from there trackpad, and have a large touch sensitive area at the bottom of the phone that also has all over clicking. This is unlikely as the cost of the finger print sensor would sky-rocket, but the all-over sapphire crystal would make it a possibility. Now, I don’t know what functionality a curved display will bring but if Apple includes it, it will obviously not be done without any thought. In reality I think they’re on the right track again, but still not quite there. What I take away from this report is that Apple is looking to make the next iPhone quite visually different. When they went from the 4s to the 5, they were both brick phones, the size difference is negligible when looking at the back of the phone from a distance and if it’s in a case you can barely tell. I really think they want to bring back the status symbol of the new iPhone, bring back the iPhone envy, make it cultural – that’ll push sales more than features. I think to have a ground breaking phone they need to perfect there current product, redesigning all of their apps, expanding current app functionality, making design more intuitive and unified (ie. Delete icons look different in different apple apps) far better maps with a ground breaking new feature or adding features available in Google Maps but making them better, making the settings app more intuitive, turning the search bar into the powerhouse that is spotlight, built in integration, siri diction built in, siri improvements all around, make a iCloud keychain api so users don’t have to use safari (safari on a mac I mean), better battery – PERFECTING the current product and only releasing perfect new features. That phone would sell.

  27. gwoplock - 10 years ago

    no just no. apple would never have such an ugly design.

  28. Barbara Bruner - 10 years ago

    thank you for a larger screen and what about key pad will it be larger

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.