iPhone 5 To Get a 4.6 Inch Display, iPhone Users More Profitable?

The new iPad may have generated a lot of interest among tablet shoppers. But it is the next iPhone that has the tech world excited. Apple did not deliver an iPhone with a different form factor last time around. This time around, the company is expected to go out of its way to put more pressure on its rivals. According to Reuters, the new iPhone may get a 4.6 inch retina display. An unnamed source has told South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper that Apple has already chosen the larger display and begun ordering the parts from suppliers.

This is a rumor at this point. Apple has allegedly already started working with its Korean suppliers to get rolling with the project. That suggests Samsung and LG are the likely the candidates. It will be interesting to see whether Apple moves ahead with this. The company has elected not to change the size of iPhone’s screen till now. Before the iPhone 4S was released to the market, many rumors suggested it would have a 4 inch display. That did not pan out either. Perhaps what debunks this rumor is the suggestion that the new iPhone will be ready to launch as early as the second quarter of 2012.

Speaking of the iPhone 4S, Sprint seems perfectly happy with its decision of investing a ton of money to get a chance to offer the iPhone. It may have cost Sprint a fortune but iPhone customers seem more profitable for Sprint. At least that is what Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggests:

Subsidies are heavy for the iPhone. This is the reason why a high percentage of new customers is important … But iPhone customers have a lower level of churn and they actually use less data on average than a high-end 4G Android device. So from a cost point of view and a customer lifetime value perspective. They’re more profitable than the average smartphone customer. Four out of every 10 iPhones we sold are for new customers. That’s roughly double the rate of either of our competitors, so we’re pulling a lot of customers from our competitors

Experts still doubt the company will have enough strength to develop a network that could handle all the data load of its customers. It does seem that Sprint had no choice but to add iPhone to its offerings though.