Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
Bigger: The sixth-generation iPhone will feature a screen one-inch larger than Apple‘s (AAPL) current iPhone 5s, AppleInsider notes. The report from a Japanese media source corresponds with a variety of other rumors suggesting that Apple will join the trend toward larger screen smartphones when it releases the iPhone 6 in September 2014. The display on the next iPhone will pack 440 pixels per inch on a screen with 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. Apple is apparently moving to make the next iPhone as thin as possible in order to promote it as easily operable with a single hand. Apple boosted the screen size of the iPhone to 4 inches when it launched the iPhone 5 last year. All prior models featured 3.5-inch screens. Apple has been criticized by some technology observers for maintaining relatively small smartphone screens despite the popularity of larger-screen phones from rivals like Samsung. Recent rumors have suggested that Apple has developed prototypes for larger screen phones, though it is not expected to produce an iPhone with a screen larger than 5 inches.
Timing: Apple is negotiating a deal with LG Display (LPL) that could supply it with displays for its much-rumored iWatch, MacRumors notes. Korean media reports indicate that LG is very close to finalizing the agreement to produce OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens for the smartwatch after talks between Apple and Samsung failed to produce a deal. Apple will also reportedly purchase displays for the iWatch from RITEK subsidary RiTdisplay. Apple is apparently looking to diversify the supplier base for the iWatch so that is not reliant on just one partner. The report indicates that Apple will unveil its smartwatch next year, which is in line with other recent reports.
Designated: Steve Job’s childhood home has been declared a “historic resource” by the Los Altos Historical Commission, the San Jose Mercury News notes. 2066 Crist Drive, where Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computers, joined the list of historic Los Altos properties after a vote by the commission on Monday night. The one-story, ranch-style home has been the subject of a preservation effort and a campaign to gain historic status for two years. The home is currently owned by Jobs’ sister Patricia, who helped assemble some of the company’s first machines back in 1976. Surviving models of those computers, which originally retailed for about $500,000, have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction in recent years.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
