Apple iPhone5 Release: Larger Screen Size Expected

The Apple Inc. iPhone5 release date is almost here -- with an unveiling anticipated at a company event Tuesday -- and it is expected that among the biggest changes consumers will find in the product is a larger screen size.

Some qualified reports dating back to last February have suggested the larger screen size will be a reality for the highly anticipated iPhone5. The idea is that the fifth-generation smartphone from Apple will have an expanded screen to better compete with Android devices that often have larger screens.

First released in 2007, Apple's iPhone is the world's most popular smartphone. But Google's Android is the world's most popular operating system, used by multiple manufacturers. Among all the rumors and qualified reports that have surfaced in the past nine months speculating about what new features the iPhone5 will have, the ones about the larger screen have been among the most persistent.

Last February, iDealsChina posted what it claimed to be a photo of the front digitizer panel for the iPhone5. Here was the caption that was posted with the photo, according to 9to5Mac: China's 1st iPhone5 photo has surfaced! From this photo it seems that the screen size will be larger than iPhone4. There has been a lot of speculation about a larger screen and maybe this will be one of the upgrades we will see when iPhone5 is released this summer.

There was also an early report from China's DigiTimes that Apple was looking at bigger screen sizes to better compete with popular Android phones -- hailed in large part because of their larger screen sizes. That report was in early February, when the tech publication said the new iPhone5 will feature a 4-inch screen -- bigger than the iPhone4's 3.5-inch touch screen.

Popular Android smartphones including the Motorola Droid Bionic and the HTC Thunderbolt sport screen sizes of 4.3 inches.

But it doesn't take qualified rumors and competitive comparisons to understand that Apple's new iPhone will likely have a larger screen size. Even with all the resounding reviews for Apple's iPhone4 and unprecedented global customer popularity, one consistent wish list item has been a larger screen size.

It is easily among the most-wanted iPhone5 features. And Apple is about meeting customer demand, after all.

Currently, however, Apple's iPhone4 is notorious for yielding multiple text messages, emails, and Facebook postings that are filled with errors because the small touch-screen keyboard is hard for many to hit just right. Many consumers know that if they get a bungled text message, it most likely came from an iPhone.

Apple wants that to stop.

Also, many top, credible product reviewers have called for Apple to expand the screen size for a couple of iPhone generations now.

It's just a natural progression.

Add to that fact the obvious migration that's starting to take place in the consumer tech industry where smartphones and tablets will merge more closely together. Just last year, Apple was rocking along with its new iPad tablet, its iPhone4 smartphone, and its iPod and iTouch.

But with each and every passing day, these products merge more closely together. Already, Apple is said to be ready to drop its iPod music device because with more memory, new devices such as the iPhone5 and iPad2 tablet readily serve the same purpose. The iPhone is an iPod, and much more.

Similarly, many industry observers expect Amazon.com Inc.'s new Kindle Fire tablet, with a 7-inch touchscreen, to unleash new demand for smaller, lighter-weight tablets that are easier to carry around. So as tablets shrink and smartphones increase in screen size, they will move closer to the all-in-one product that will soon emerge.

Of course, Apple is not just a trendsetter in consumer technology, but the company many consider to be the trendsetter in the space -- so making a larger screen size for Apple's new iPhone5 is a natural and completely expected progression.