Apple (AAPL) iPhones once thought too big by changeable consumers

Today, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a competitive disadvantage because many consumers thirst for bigger smartphone screens, which are currently provided mainly by the Korean company Samsung. At times, Apple even comes under criticism for continuing to produce “small” iPhones. Yet, in fact, some of the documents made public at the Apple vs. Samsung trial show that the current size is bigger than the phones consumers once complained were oversized, some of them measuring a mere 3.5 inches.

Today, a 4 inch screen seems rather cramped and outdated, like a car-sized World War II fighter plane beside a jumbo jet. Samsung’s telephones are often in excess of 5 inches, and are received with enthusiasm due to their roomy screen. In fact, smartphones are starting to be jostled for shelf space by so-called “phablets,” which are, as their name suggests, midway in size and functionality between a telephone and a tablet.

Ironically, the relatively small size of the current iPhone model that is poo-poohed by today’s customers is a direct result of consumer feedback. All iPhones had 3.5 inch screens up to and including the iPhone 4S. The leaked document reveals that many people, for years, found the 3.5 inch iPhone to be excessively large. The Apple memo revealed during the trial gives three example opinions from iPhone users around the world:

• A Londoner declared “it’s quite monstrously large.”
• A Singapore commenter remarked “I prefer something that will fit into a ladies’ bag, the iPhone is too big, it will bulge out.”
• A Chicago consumer said “I think the [INSTINCT] is thinner than the iPhone. I think the iPhone is a big phone.”

Yet, just a few years later, many people – no doubt including some of those who declared a 3.5 inch iPhone to be colossal and inconvenient – are clamoring for 6 inch Android smartphones and advocating the idea that “bigger is better.” Apple (AAPL) has undoubtedly avoided increasing its smartphone size until now for fear of alienating its customer base. Yet the consumer market, with a speed that can only be described as “fickle,” has abandoned its original ideas of the iPhone being too big and now complains that it is stunted.

The iPhone 6 can be seen as a response to the people’s mercurial changes of fashion – not a fashion leader, but a fashion follower. The smartphone is likely to measure 4.7 inches and support 1080 HD resolution, powered by an expanded battery. Apple (AAPL), of course, is now playing catch-up, and remains to be seen if the new smartphone will satisfy, or if it will just prompt calls for a 6.5 inch iPhone.