Will we See an iPhone Phablet in 2013?

By -
The Apple rumor mill never sleeps. And we aren’t the ones who care much about these rumors, except when we see some mettle behind the hearsay or the idea to be interesting. This time, it’s the latter.
One of my favorite tech writers, Brian S Hall, had predicted (back in Nov 2012) that Apple will be forced to release a much bigger iPhone this year, owing to the pressure applied by ever-growing Galaxy series of Android smartphones by Samsung, which are getting bigger and better by the day. Apple has always resisted bigger screens for the iPhone, as they hamper “single handed operation”. Well, they had also dismissed smaller iPads, till they announced iPad mini late last year.
Now, some Apple bloggers have woken up to the reality. Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, and a well-known Apple apologist blogger, is predicting a 4.94″, 16:9 screen iPhone phablet, which he calls – iPhone Plus. He uses John Gruber’s theory of predicting the size of iPad mini.
The iPad Mini uses iPhone 3GS-density screens at iPad resolution. What if an iPhone Plus used Retina iPad screens with iPhone 5 resolution, keeping the rest of the design sized like an iPhone 5?
Here is a mockup of iPhone Plus next to iPhone 5, as created by Marco Arment.

iphoneplus-mockup
Marco argues that with 4.94″ screen and same pixel dimensions as iPhone 5, no app changes would be necessary. If at all Apple decides to come out with a phablet, it’ll be a huge step-down from their “one-size-fits-all” approach. There was a time when Apple almost dictated market trends. Though there were full-touchscreen smartphones before 2007, it was iPhone which made it to the mainstream and a norm. Apple (and Steve Jobs) single-handedly killed Adobe Flash on mobile devices. They made iPad synonymous with tablets, and popularized the concept of App Stores.
Things have changed. This time, the market is leading Apple. Biggest screens are a rage, specially in Asian countries. When I was in Hong Kong, back in April 2012, I used to see as many Galaxy Note phones as iPhone 4S on the Metro trains. With Galaxy Note 2 and other phablets, it has only gotten better. Apple can no longer ignore the market needs. They did a good thing by backtracking on ‘no smaller iPad’ stand, and I believe, they’ll do the same with bigger iPhone as well.
As Brian (and now Marco) predicts, Apple will release two new iPhones this year. One will be the 4-inch iPhone 5S. The other will be a much larger device, a phablet. This is not that typical Digitimes rumor, although they are saying the same thing this time. Let’s clear & lengthen our pockets to welcome iPhone Plus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Send Fax From Your PC

By -
Image
T he fax machine has been around for a long time. And until the more easy electronic mediums for sharing information took over, it was a crucial piece of equipment that could not miss from any office. Nevertheless, these devices have not been completely forgotten, and nowadays, there are still many in use. Also, the implementation of fax machines in All-in-One printers have given them a new life. But in the way of progress, not even this iconic device can stand. And thanks to the developments brought on by the electronic age, the fax machine has moved from the physical world to the virtual one. Traditional fax machines can now receive information from computers also, making them much better suited to integrate in this new era. How to send fax from a computer?   If you think that sending fax from a computer is something complicated that can only be done by IT specialists, you are very wrong. The fact of the matter is that the process is not...
Read more

Mega List of Windows 8 Drivers

By -
Image
Windows 8 is out in the wild for quite a while now, but not all companies have been prompt with the release of optimized drivers for Windows 8 . I personally experienced this issue and I can tell you how frustrating it is. I think every company should prepare much better for such an important like the Windows 8 launch was. Everything should be ready to go when the OS sees the sunlight. However, things weren’t like that and users, in many cases, should search on their own for Windows 8 compatible drivers . That’s why we’ve decided to come up with a list that will surely help you out. We’ll try to put here as many drivers as we can find so you can find what you’re look for. Update your drivers from within Windows 8 Before jumping to the list below, you should know that there are a few ways to update your drivers to Windows 8. Microsoft has thought about this, as well, and they’ve included some very easy ways to update your drivers. Here are two basic, automatic driver upd...
Read more

Daily App: Verticus (iOS) – Free fallin’ was Never this much Fun

By -
Image
Trust Stan Lee to steer clear of convention. The superhero creating legend of the comic world (he gave us Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and many others, for those not too steeped in comic history) has stepped into casual gaming with Verticus – a $0.99 offering for iOS. And at a time when the world is going crazy into endless running games, he has decided to use the same concept. With a spin. Verticus, you see, is a game which is all about falling. The rationale is simple – an alien race called the Obliterators have found their way to the Earth’s core where they are building a machine that will destroy the world. There is only one way to save the day – don the suit of our fearless hero and fall towards the Earth, dodging mines and picking up coins, boosters and other articles the way, and then indeed tunnel to the very core of our planet and destroy the diabloical machine. Think of Verticus as Temple Run in reverse. You control the direction in which your charac...
Read more