iPhone 6 with Much Larger Display Already in the Works [WSJ]

The screen size for Apple’s upcoming iPhone upgrade this year isn’t undergoing any changes, but the Cupertino giant is already working on iPhones with screen sizes up to 6 inches diagonally, sources say.

People familiar with the matter are telling the Wall Street Journal that “The electronics giant has begun evaluating a plan to offer iPhones with screens ranging from 4.8 inches to as high as 6 inches.”

This year, the iPhone screen size remains capped at 4 inches, according to the paper's sources, but the upcoming iPhones (in 2014 and beyond) are likely to get much larger displays. For multiple reasons, too.

Apple is reportedly “shifting its smartphone strategy as it searches for new engines of growth, and as competition with Samsung Electronics Co.”

When Steve Jobs was running the show, Apple was focused on a single iPhone refresh every year, and was reluctant to say “yes” to everything that was in somewhat demand.

This strategy, however, has proved awfully profitable for Samsung with its low-end smartphones.

While Apple isn’t ready to throw down the gauntlet just yet, it has ceded to developing a plastic-encased iPhone 5C for the 2013 iPhone refresh.

So it makes sense for the California-based mammoth to try and diversify its iPhone range even further. Next year promises to be truly dramatic, if rumors of Apple developing an iWatch are also correct.

The WSJ report also notes that Apple has seen an uptick in iPhone 4 demand in emerging markets, which fuels rumors that the iPhone 5C will be a huge hit globally.

The company has kickstarted trade-in programs to generate more store traffic and to make it easier for customers to walk out with a brand new iPhone purchased at a discount.

The iPhone 4S isn’t any less popular, and rumor has it that Apple might continue to produce the handset, even as it plans to discontinue the iPhone 5 to drive sales of the upcoming iPhone 5C.

“A person familiar with Apple's production also said the iPhone 4S is among the top products Apple continues to sell,” the finance newspaper reports.

Finally, the same “people familiar with the matter” are also telling the publication that Apple indeed plans to ship both the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S together, following the company’s ceremonious unveiling on September 10.