Has Apple Purchased A 3-Year Supply Of 4.5-Inch Sapphire Glass Displays?
The chief executive officer of Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu OS, recently claimed that Apple has bought a three-year supply of 4.5-inch sapphire glass displays, indicating that the Cupertino, Calif. company’s next-generation iPhone could indeed utilize the ultra-durable material while also seeing a hike in size.
Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, was discussing his company’s Ubuntu Edge handset when the interesting comment was made. “Apple just snapped up the entire 3-year supply of the same sapphire display we wanted for the Edge,” he said. GigaOM rightly explains that the Edge was expected to have a 4.5-inch display, suggesting that Apple is planning on releasing at least one larger, sapphire-equipped handset later this year.
The comment from Canonical does stand in opposition with a report we shared yesterday, however. As we explained, the Taiwan-based Economic Daily News recently argued that Apple is indeed planning two larger handsets for late 2014, but claimed that only the bigger 5.7-inch model would benefit from a sapphire glass display.
Our report continued:
Economic Daily News indeed believes, however, that out of the two incoming handsets sapphire glass will be used for the larger iPhone only. More bizarre, though, is the publication’s further claim that this 5.6-inch smartphone will be an experimental device which won’t adopt the “iPhone” brand name.
Could a new “iPhablet” name be a possibility, perhaps?
Apple has invested heavily in sapphire glass production this year, and it’s likely that the glass produced at its Arizona plant will initially be used for smaller sections of its iPhone such as Touch ID and the built-in camera.
However, it’s looking increasingly probable that sapphire glass will make an appearance in our next-generation iPhones’ screens, too. We’ll keep you updated with further information as we receive it.
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