Apple’s competitors, namely Android OEMs, have been releasing phones with much larger displays for a very long time now, and it was only with the iPhone 5 that Apple finally stepped up to the plate and made some changes, even though it wasn’t exactly a huge leap from 3.5-inches to 4-inches.
On the surface it seemed that Apple was not too fussed about the competition and the decision to stick to their guns, even in the face of the original Samsung Galaxy Note, was pretty apparent. After all Apple has long had a history of doing whatever they wanted, but apparently it seems that internally the company was worried.
It was revealed in the courts today that according to an internal email, it showed that there were some at Apple who were concerned about the company’s lack of large screened devices, and that they might have trouble growing in a market where large screen phones are currently a popular choice amongst customers.
It should be noted that the email does not necessarily represent Apple as a whole, but it was instead sent from one member from Apple’s sales team which was titled, “Competitors have drastically improved their hardware and in some cases their ecosystems.” When providing testimony, Apple’s Phil Schiller stated that he didn’t agree with the document and stated that it did not represent Apple policy.
However that being said, there are rumors that Apple could be prepping a 4.7-inch iPhone for launch later this year, and that there are apparently plans for a 5.5-inch iPhone as well that could be launched after that.