Last year, when rumors about a 4″ Retina-equipped iPhone began to surface, no one seemed to consider changing the aspect ratio of the display. Instead, we all got caught up in the possibility of a bezel-free phone and an edge-to-edge display.
This time around, all we seem to be seeing is stretched out iPhones. According to the first set of mockups: in order to keep the same sharpness and increase display size without upsetting developers too much, we’d need to have the screen lengthened. That would likely mean a longer, slimmer device.
But, what if (extremely unlikely scenario) Apple decided to keep the same sized device and still give us a 4-inch Retina? It’s possible. Just shrink down the home key to an almost unusable size, give the phone fat side bezels and we’re there. These concepts from Will Hains over at Good Will Blogging, shows that it could be done, and that it would result in a hideous phone. It just looks wrong. Really wrong.
If Apple released something that looked even remotely like that, I would cry into my Apple logo embroidered napkin (while I was pre-ordering it, obviously) and complain for a few days or weeks. I’m a big fan of the current screen ratio.
To me, it makes more sense to just make it bigger, add some pixels and tell developers: if you want your app to look good on this, you better make it compatible. They’d be tripping over themselves to be featured in Apple’s list of “apps optimized for the new iPhone” list.
