Apple is testing iPhones and iPads with larger screens as it seeks to keep intensifying competition at bay, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Quoting unnamed sources at the Company’s suppliers, the report said that Apple has asked them to prepare iPhone prototypes with screens larger than 4 inches, and iPads with 13-inch screens.
The larger iPhones would appear to be a response to the success of top line smartphones from the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola which have been eating in to sales of the iPhone by appealing to customers who like using bigger screens than the current iPhone 5 which has a 4-inch screen.
The current iPads sport screens of 7 inches and 9.7 inches.
Apple founder Steve Jobs repeatedly dismissed the need for larger screen size, but the success of competitors might lead his successor as Apple CEO, Tim Cook to reconsider that approach. Cook last year did override Jobs’ objection to smaller iPads when he introduced the 7 inch iPad mini which has since proved very popular.
According to the report, Apple suppliers are already fabricating components for the new iPhone which will launch later this year. But that new model will share the same dimensions as the current device, and if Apple decides to adopt larger screens it will only be in subsequent iterations, the report said.