Apple Is Said to Be Seriously Considering an iPhablet

The rumor of an iPhablet — that's an Apple phone-tablet hybrid — lives on, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the iCompany is considering selling phones with screens ranging from 4.8 to 6 inches

The rumor of an iPhablet — that's an Apple phone-tablet hybrid — lives on, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the iCompany is considering selling phones with screens ranging from 4.8 to 6 inches. When a screen size gets into the 5- to 7-inch territory, it gets "phablet" status because. A 6-inch iPhone would be a huge phone and if released "would be one of the largest on the market," as The Journal's Ian Sherr, Eva Dou, and Lorraine Luk note. It would only be less than two inches smaller than the iPad mini and look something like that six-inch phone pictured right. Even a 4.8-inch iPhone would look ginormous in comparison to Apple's current models. For context, the "bigger" iPhone 5 comes in at 4-inches.

The whole idea of a phablet — a device the masses say they want — goes against everything Apple said it wouldn't do, at least under Steve Jobs, who believed a phone should fit in one hand. But, the new era of Apple, is more open to bigger screens in years past, sources tell the Journal. So much so that Apple has already begun testing these larger screens, component suppliers say.

It all sounds pretty sacrilegious. But, so did the cheap iPhone until it didn't, and now Apple will probably announce a low budget version of its popular high end smart phone for a low price.
"Apple has been particularly interested in recent tests for a 4.8-inch screen, these people say," reports The Journal. That's not big enough to fall into phablet territory and might not look incredibly ridiculous, according to this mockup. See, instead of 5 rows of icons, like on the iPhone 5, there are six: