In a recent publication, 9to5Mac has reported through its anonymous sources that more than one prototype iPhone 5 units are currently being tested by Apple, two of which sport a new larger display that measures 3.95 inches diagonally. The report further claims that along with a larger display, the new iPhone’s Retina resolution will be increased to 640 x 1136 i.e an extra 176 pixels longer of a display. The taller screen will bring the iPhone’s aspect ratio close to 16:9, meaning most widescreen videos will be playable at full screen without black bars.
(Taller iPhone mockup)
Detailing from the source:
These prototype phones are floating around Apple HQ in thick, locked shells in order to disguise the exterior design to “undisclosed” employees. We know of two next-generation iPhones in testing with a larger display: the iPhone 5,1 and iPhone 5,2. These phones are in the PreEVT stage of development and are codenamed N41AP (5,1) and N42AP (5,2). Because Apple reserves certain models for internal-only usage, we’re not sure which of the two devices will make its way into the world later this year.
The source believes information regarding iPhone 5’s processor specs, maps and more will be revealed later this week.
Update 1: John Gruber from Daring Fireball has heard similar whispers of a 4-inch screen from his sources, and more importantly a precise 16:9 display:
First, at 1136?×?640, you get a diagonal of 1,303.877 pixels after applying the Pythagorean theorem. There are no such thing as fractional pixels, but what I’m talking about here are pixels as a unit of length, equal to 1/326 inch. Divide 1,303.877 by 326 and you get 3.9996 inches. Boom, a “4-inch” display. I’m sure if Apple instead went to 1152 pixels in height — which works out to 4.042 inches — they’d still just call it a “4-inch” display, for the sake of neatness, but it’s at least somewhat interesting that 1136 is the closest they could get to precisely 4.0 inches.
1136?×?639 is exactly a 16:9 ratio, and Gruber believes this to be the aspect ratio.
