Could the iPhone 6 already be in front of our eyes?

[Highrisedrifter]

No, they would never do anything like this. Especially not making the bezels even smaller. You're just describing some sort of android device

I disagree. I think that making the bezels even smaller would allow them to fit a larger phone into a form factor not much bigger than the curret iteration. That surely has to be a win-win for the consumers and Apple. If Apple like to innovate, it would be one of the first phones to sport a very thin or 'bezelless' design and could really set them apart from a lot of other phones. I don't know of any Android devices that have super-thin or non-existent bezels, especially amongst the top tier devices. I could be wrong though as I haven't delved into it much but in all honesty, with such a design feature I would have thought that if anyone had done it, they would be shouting it from the rooftops.

Of course, I fully understand and appreciate that we are both talking nothing more than pure conjecture here. Who knows what the future will bring?

 

[Septembersrain]

I disagree. I think that making the bezels even smaller would allow them to fit a larger phone into a form factor not much bigger than the curret iteration. That surely has to be a win-win for the consumers and Apple. If Apple like to innovate, it would be one of the first phones to sport a very thin or 'bezelless' design and could really set them apart from a lot of other phones. I don't know of any Android devices that have super-thin or non-existent bezels, especially amongst the top tier devices. I could be wrong though as I haven't delved into it much but in all honesty, with such a design feature I would have thought that if anyone had done it, they would be shouting it from the rooftops.

Of course, I fully understand and appreciate that we are both talking nothing more than pure conjecture here. Who knows what the future will bring?

I agree, I do think there is just enough extra bezel that they could cut it down a tad. I think they should go with nothing larger than 4.5 on one of the variants though. Keep to their usual .5 sizes. A 4.5 and 5.5 would please the masses I think. I'm just hoping they don't make the smaller variant inferior though...

 

[rayz336]

The single most mysterious aspect of the upcoming iPhone for most of us seems to be how it's going to look. The Internet right now is full of concepts and renders of artists' impressions. But not a single one of them looks plausible to me. Apple wouldn't release an iPhone with asymmetrical bezels on top and the bottom. At the same time releasing a phone with the same bezels as the iPhone 5s but with a 4.5" or 4.7" screen would be a suicide. Apple is certainly going to "cut" some bezels and I tried to take a guess at how it's going to turn out.

Take a look at the back of the current iPhone:

View attachment 49654

Imagine the same image with a display in the place of the metal plate.

View attachment 49655

But what about the home button with Touch ID, you ask?

The bezels need to shrink, I don't doubt that. And the home button might need to go and become a touch sensitive area under the screen. This is where all the rumors and facts about sapphire crystal front panels begin to make sense. Apple doesn't need to ditch Gorilla Glass as it's good enough these days. The only really compelling reason to switch to sapphire crystal seems to be implementing the Touch ID under the entire front glass panel. Not as a circle in the home button but as a sensitive area right under the screen and below the glass. Remember that podcast with Rene when he mentioned rumors that Apple would try to implement Touch ID directly under the display? I think we're not too close to that yet but Apple is definitely working on bringing Touch ID under the glass panel.

Right now on the back of the iPhone 5/5s the metal plate is 4.5" diagonally. For a 4.7" the entire phone needs to get slightly larger. Whatever the screen size, this is the only option that makes sense to me. Of all the renders I've seen, some of which done with great talent and resources, I think just taking the back of the iPhone 5 and going from there seems most plausible. Bezels need to shrink and shrink symmetrically. As a result the home button needs to become a touch sensitive area together with the Touch ID and this is where the sapphire crystal comes. It all makes sense to me.

Before you reply to this post, please have a look at the back of your iPhone 5 or 5s. Hold it, think about the proportions, does it look plausible for you? Does it look like something Apple would do? Does it still retain the iconic iPhone silhouette that is so obviously missing from most of the renders out there?

What do you think? I'd like to read your take on this idea of mine.

It looks plausible and this is probably one of the better thoughts in my opinion

 

[Highrisedrifter]

I I'm just hoping they don't make the smaller variant inferior though...

I hope not too. My HTC One screen size at 4.7" is just on the slightly larger side of what I want. The Note 3 I have is just silly; I can't wait to get rid of it. If the 4.5, or whatever they decide to go with, is just as powerful as the larger device then I will be all over that.

 

[Spencerdl]

Nice post OP and well thought out. GREAT job...you have me believing it could happen just like this....SMILE

 

[mfm77]

Nice work, Metro - you have a gift for this kind of stuff! At this point, too, it might be time for Apple to ditch the home button to increase the screen size more significantly. We shall see, perhaps sooner than we think!


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[mumfoau]

Gotta say this is one of if not THE most feasible ideas for a larger screened iPhone!


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[Ipheuria]

The minute they talked about TouchID I thought it needs to be integrated into the scren. So that I don't need to touch a particular spot. Where on your phone is the most touched by your fingers? the screen. It would also be one of the ways they could do quick response for iMessage which people have wanted since forever. The main problem with allowing people to answer from the lock screen is security. The phone is fast and with Touch ID when you get a message you swipe it and put your finger on the home button and it opens. However now you could tap to open the message and it would authenticate you right form the tap on the screen. However I don't think they are quite there yet and I doubt they will get rid of the home button anytime soon. When you think about ditching the home button you have to consider the entire market the iPhone is sold towards. It is aimed at the general market and not just the "type" of people who use smartphones and tablet devices. It is sold just as much to a teen as it is to a 50 year old. The one thing that makes it easy to use is they always have a way to get back to the home screen, the home button. You take it away and while to us it's not a big deal a certain section of the customers will be lost. There are other reasons why the physical home button is needed. Will they ever get rid of it sure I just don't think we are even close to that yet.

 

[Metro1088]

The minute they talked about TouchID I thought it needs to be integrated into the scren. So that I don't need to touch a particular spot. Where on your phone is the most touched by your fingers? the screen. It would also be one of the ways they could do quick response for iMessage which people have wanted since forever. The main problem with allowing people to answer from the lock screen is security. The phone is fast and with Touch ID when you get a message you swipe it and put your finger on the home button and it opens. However now you could tap to open the message and it would authenticate you right form the tap on the screen. However I don't think they are quite there yet and I doubt they will get rid of the home button anytime soon. When you think about ditching the home button you have to consider the entire market the iPhone is sold towards. It is aimed at the general market and not just the "type" of people who use smartphones and tablet devices. It is sold just as much to a teen as it is to a 50 year old. The one thing that makes it easy to use is they always have a way to get back to the home screen, the home button. You take it away and while to us it's not a big deal a certain section of the customers will be lost. There are other reasons why the physical home button is needed. Will they ever get rid of it sure I just don't think we are even close to that yet.

Implementing Touch ID directly under the screen seems like the final goal indeed but I doubt it will happen this year. I'd live to be proven wrong by Apple.

I completely agree that a physical clickable home button is the best for a mass market device. But the home button needs to get smaller and a smaller button would make it very difficult to carry the Touch ID.

The whole fingerprint sensor is really restricting the size and look of the home button. They need to separate.and evolve on their own. Right now as it is the iPhone is a beautiful device. But the proportions are right for a 4" device, not a 4.7". Notice how Apple shrunk the home button and the bezels for the iPhone 5 compared to 4s. Even a slight increase of the screen size needs a different bezel proportion. This is Apple. They know how to set proportions and truly make the best-looking device for its size. This is why they keep the same design for two years. When they release something, they make sure it looks perfect and don't need to change it the following year.

This year proportions will change again. Of that I'm sure. Things need to shrink and those that are difficult to shrink due to restrictions-by-design need to change and evolve.



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[blueshapti]

Consider that the current home button has a metallic capacitance ring that senses the presents of a finger, prior to initiating the sensor run. The physical click controls all the former home button functions. With the capacitance ring initiating print sensor function, in effect a second finger touch, even if you leave finger in place.

To further complicate things, the camera taking print picture is 500 ppi resolution. And a big security point Apple makes is that the print information it takes is encoded and hard wired to a specific enclave on the 7 chip. Take a look on Apple site at the print sensor construction.

I could see a size reduction to the home button and sensor ring. But the finger print sensor device is more complicated camera type mechanism, which I can't envision having that functionality over the entire screen.