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How would a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 stack up against today’s Android phones?

If the larger screen sizes offered by Android phones has played a significant role in the purchase decisions of those who’ve moved away from the iPhone, it’ll be very interesting to see how many return when the iPhone 6 is launched, with its rumored 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens.

MacRumors forum member deuxani decided to create a virtual line-up to see how the 4.7-inch model would stack up against the most popular of today’s Android handsets.

While it’s been strongly rumored that the iPhone 6 will have ultra-thin bezels left and right, Touch ID means that the iPhone 6 would be taller than its 4.7-inch Android competitors – especially as it seems unlikely Apple would abandon its vertical symmetry.

The height of the phone would likely be similar to the Nexus 5 and LG G2, with 5- and 5.2-inch screens respectively.

It would, however, still be smaller that its two main competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One.

Other rumors regarding the iPhone 6 are that it will have a rounded profile, the power button moved from the top to the right (for easier use with a larger screen) and rectangular volume controls.

Even without the larger screen, the iPhone doesn’t appear to be doing too badly at attracting Android owners. Tim Cook revealed in yesterday’s earnings call that more than 60 percent of iPhone 4S and 5c buyers have switched from Android. Apple reported double-digit growth in iPhone sales year-on-year, selling 43.7M handsets in the previous quarter.

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Comments

  1. rakinjannot - 10 years ago

    I personally wouldn’t mind the slim, tall iPhone all that much. It’s much taller because the top and bottom bezels are, by the looks of it, twice as big as those on Androids. The bezels are that large because on the bottom they need to fit the circular TouchID/home button, and on the top they need to fit the phone speaker and camera on top of each other because both work best when centered. I hope they keep it the way it is.

  2. lottoStud (@1LottoStud) - 10 years ago

    Finally a realistic rendering of the iPhone 6. Can’t stand all that ugly crap out there. Bravo to the designer who did this

  3. frankman91 - 10 years ago

    The need to fix the bezel sizes. Look at the ip6 compared to the LG G2, the ip6 is larger with a significantly smaller screen. It looks terrible. They need to slim that home button down or flatten it out or something, the bezels are killing that thing.

    • Michael Perry - 10 years ago

      Exactly my thoughts… this looks like it is design tradeoffs made are much worse than the compeition. It looks like the Moto X or G2 would be a design that Apple introduced (without the plastic of course) but the iPhone 6 render looks like a clown phone that an Android Knock-off company would produce… It’s looks absurdly long with the screen being significantly smaller than the other phones that is comparable to it’s size. Seriously it literally reminds me of a clown car.

    • Apple would need to loose the home button to make it symmetrical. It seems strange that they would do that a year after adding in the fingerprint scanner. No one has seen leaks of a changed home button. Hopefully they’ll slim it down as much as possible but for it to really slim down,they’ll need to redesign the dang home button.

    • Gabriel Hutchinson - 10 years ago

      Totally agree. The large bezels are years behind.

  4. tommackie14 - 10 years ago

    I think this is the most realistic concept by far! The guy basically got the iphone 5 right too…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPY5Bu67iY4

  5. JD (@JDemonic) - 10 years ago

    It still seems as if they’re leaving the headphone jack on the bottom of the phone. This still makes little sense to me as there are still Apps that only work in “portrait” not “landscape” and that will not rotate.

    It’s a very simple issue that – but, it’s a huge issue for me and one that could affect my next purchase. I love my iPhone, but I hate the jack on the bottom.

    • Hold your iPhone in your hand. Head phone jack located at bottom. How do you put the phone in your pocket? Part of phone near index finger and thumb… goes in first. At least for me. LOVE the headphone jack at the bottom. Perfect.

  6. Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 10 years ago

    If that is accurate and Apple offers no smaller phone, the moto x or lg look so much better. It’s stupidly tall.

    I’m so annoyed with all of these rumors. I’m dreading the new iPhone release. I’ve never dreaded any apple product release.

    All I want is an iPhone 4s with LTE. You’d think that wouldn’t be hard now. I don’t care how thin they make it, there is only so thin before it’s more of an annoyance than impressive. If they want to do something impressive, make it less stupidly tall and keep it the same thickness as the 5.

  7. irockapple - 10 years ago

    I know the recent leaks don’t point it, but what about the patents that Apple has regarding the fingerprint scanner being imbedded into the screen. Touch ID has proven itself to be useful. If they did this it would be possible to keep the phone close to the current size while drastically increasing the screen size (and no reficulously big bezels). That would also explain the vast amounts of Sapphire that Apple has procured (too much just for the iWatch). Just a thought!

  8. frankman91 - 10 years ago

    I have seen tons of the roomers that this phone will offer a 4.7 inch screen; but I am not recalling anything talking about the aspect ratio. If Apple ditches the silly tall aspect ratio that could fix a lot of the issue. The 4.6 inch screen would be in a more reasonable chassis if they go back to the older ip4 aspect ratio.

    Am I mistaken? Thoughts?

  9. jrox16 - 10 years ago

    This 4.7″ iPhone would be amazing and will sell like crazy… but I hope Apple can part with the “perfection” of having equal sized top and bottom bezels, and will let the top one with the ear piece shrink down to make the overall length smaller. The bottom has to stay as is for TouchID, which is fine, I won’t give up TouchID, but the top can be MUCH smaller if they wanted to.

  10. frankman91 - 10 years ago

    It is hard to look at that series of photos and still call Android phones ugly; I’m sorry, but OS aside the front views of those phones are making the ip6 look like a dinosaur.

    • herb02135go - 10 years ago

      … people will buy it because it’s shiny!

      • frankman91 - 10 years ago

        Apple is not my think but I am not certainly not saying it won’t be a good phone, and they will sell the hell out of them. I was just surprised at my initial impression when I was looking at the photos above.

  11. zubeirg87 - 10 years ago

    I say the bottom bezel needs to be aluminium, just like the “chin” of the iMac. This could allow the home button to come very close to the bottom edge of the phone, something that cannot happen with glass.
    Now, the bezels will loose some precious millimetres. Let’s say 3mm on top and bottom, that makes 6mm, assuming they want to keep top and bottom bezels the same size. That could mean the power button staying on top, which is much better in my view.

    That is just an opinion. I have no idea whether this is feasible. May be one day it could be.

  12. Stanley Rama Newton - 10 years ago

    Compared to the HTC and Samsung, the iphone with those big-ass bezels looks so 2010 it’s embarrassing. Apple needs to rethink their design flaws. Clinging to the past will kill them. The aspect ratio of the screen looks dorky. The circular home button is a massive waste of space. Unfortunately, they will have to copy the look of Samsung and others to achieve relevance. I await September and the release, but I have no intention of giving up my Samsung lightweight-space-age material design perfection.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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