An unverified report claims Apple has begun placing orders for a 4.6-inch Retina Display bound for the next-generation iPhone that could launch as early as "around the second quarter."
Reuters issued the report on Wednesday, citing South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper. An unnamed industry source reportedly told the Korean publication that Apple has chosen the larger display and has already begun ordering the part from suppliers.
The rumor suggested that domestic Korean suppliers have received the orders, making Samsung and LG likely candidates as suppliers. Both companies have supplied displays for Apple's mobile products in the past.
The original report also claimed that the new display would be a Retina Display, which Apple specifies as having a pixel density of 300 pixels per inch when used at a distance of 10-12 inches.
If accurate, Wednesday's report signals a break by Apple from its past practice, as the company has elected not to change the 3.5-inch screen size of the iPhone since it launched in 2007. However, the likelihood that the rumor is indeed accurate appears to be relatively low. Rumors of a 4-inch iPhone screen have persisted for some time now, but claims of a 4.6-inch screen size are some of the largest yet.
Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone has a 4.65-inch screen
In addition, the rumored second quarter launch is highly questionable, as it would mean a new iPhone arriving between six to nine months after the iPhone 4S. A machine translation of the original report has the article claiming the new handset will come out "this summer" with no mention of the second quarter. The astronomical definition of summer most closely aligns with the third quarter of the calendar year. Multiple reports have pointed to a September or October launch for the next-generation iPhone.
A number of Wall Street analysts expect the sixth-generation iPhone to incorporate 4G LTE. Investment firm Barclays said on Wednesday that Apple is reviewing components for the next iPhone and is likely to utilize the Qualcomm "MDM9615" chip that supports voice and data connections over LTE. Speculation has also arisen that Apple will revert to a simpler naming scheme for the iPhone as it has recently done with the iPad.
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In what appears to be the first reported case of its kind on U.S. shores, a Colorado woman alleges that her iPhone 4 caught fire while charging overnight and wants Apple to warn customers of the device's possible combustion issues.
The woman, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said she took her story to tech website Mashable in order to spread public awareness over the reported issue, claiming that Apple has been reticent to acknowledge the alleged incident.
The unnamed source claims that she awoke in the early morning during a recent trip to the east coast to find her year-old white iPhone 4 making "sizzling" and "popping" noises. After an unspecified amount of time there was “not quite an explosion, but an immense crackling,” and smoke plumed from the device creating "an awful, putrid smell, almost like you were ingesting plastic of some kind.”
Inspection of the provided pictures yields no clues as to which components were heated to the point of creating smoke, though it a bulging battery is clearly seen to have expanded enough to force apart the iPhone's casing.
According to the report, the iPhone was connected via an Apple-branded charger to a power outlet that was later inspected and found to be working normally.
The woman goes on to say that when she asked Apple to be upgraded to a replacement iPhone 4S, the company furnished her with another iPhone 4.
“I would have liked to have seen them say they understand this might not be something that affects everyone,” the Colorado woman said. “But, because it happened here, [they should] put up a precautionary statement to make people aware that if their battery becomes too hot to be wary.”
The alleged incident is reportedly the first of its kind in the U.S., though there has been at least one similar instance in Australia involving the iPhone 4.
This is not the first time Apple has seen problems with overheating batteries as it extended a replacement program for its first-generation iPod nano in 2011 due to a defect that caused the device's battery to overheat. The Cupertino, Calif., company first acknowledged the problem in a 2008 press release that stemmed from an investigation by the Japanese government.
There have been no reports of severe overheating issues with the iPhone 4S or any other products in Apple's current lineup.
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