China Mobile, the country’s biggest mobile provider, has published specs for the iPhone 6 and revealed where Apple will be cutting costs in making iPhone 6.
According to GSMArena, a sign-up page for China Mobile customers lists specs for the iPhone 6, including its 8-megapixel camera, and storage options up to 128GB.
Curiously, it also lists the display resolution as an unimpressive “1134 x 750 pixels”, suggesting Apple will use the LCD same panel found in previous iPhones. The iPhone 5s has a screen resolution of 1134 x 640 pixels, meaning iPhone 6 will have the same number of vertical pixels with an increase in horizontal pixels, if the information is correct.
More importantly, this information suggests a drop in iPhone’s pixel density, or how many pixels are visible per inch of screen space (PPI). A 4.7-inch iPhone 6 with a 1134 x 750 resolution has 287 PPI.
This is lower than the 326 PPI of the iPhone 5s display and suggests the new screen will not look as sharp and clear. Newer Androids have even more pixels, like the LG G3 5.5-inch screen with 534 PPI — nearly twice as many pixels per inch than is expected in iPhone 6.
If true, this will be one way Apple can dramatically impact on the cost of produce the handsets. It has been using these same LCD panels now for two years, and will now be enjoying a lower cost of manufacturing them.
But it could also prove to be the chink in Apple’s iPhone armour. In previous years, Apple has charged top-dollar for the iPhone, and it is expected to be among the most expensive smartphones of this year. If the iPhone loses out in side-by-side screen comparisons by customers in phone stores, it could impact Apple’s ability to sell millions of these handsets.
Success for an iPhone 6 with these specs might also suggest competitors like Samsung and LG have been wasting time and money steadily increasing the screen resolution in phones, when customers obviously can see or don’t care about the difference.
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