iPhone 6, iPhone 5S release date: Apple hedges with 4.8″ screens

Apple is positioning its iPhone release date schedule to double dip in 2013 with a pair of new models, one ambitiously named the iPhone 6 and the other less ambitiously called the iPhone 5S. The most intriguing aspect of the double dip is that Apple appears headed toward offering multiple screen sizes on one or both models, stretching as large as 4.8 inches. That’s break in philosophy from the first six iPhone generations, which each came in only one screen size at a time. The two models, which may arrive simultaneously, offer Apple the chance to diversify its iPhone lineup in the name of appealing to more customers.
The four inch iPhone 5 debuted last year, and the iPhone 5S was initially expected to follow in June 2013 with the same outer body style and improved internal specs. But other sources now place the 5S as coming in more than one size. Apple may be using the 5S launch as a trial balloon to see which sized iPhones customers end up gravitating toward. With models sized 4. 4.4 and 4.8 inches, for instance, Apple can test the theory that some consumers are gravitating toward Android phones due to their physically larger screens.
That will inform Apple which screen sizes are most likely to be popular for the iPhone 6 launch, allowing Apple to choose the various iPhone 6 sized based on evidence rather than guesswork. In any case, the iPhone 6 is expected to look vastly different than the current iPhone styling which has essentially been in use for three consecutive generations – four in fact, counting the 5S.