TechNow: iPhone 6 might have power button change and a 5.5″ 1080p sapphire protected display?

Apple is expected to not only redesign the iPhone this year, but rumors point to the company working on more than one device in order to satisfy the demand of those that want a bigger phone. Since some people value one-handed usability and others don’t, reports have that Apple will bring a 4.7-inch and a 5.5-inch iPhone to the table this year. There are conflicting rumors on the launch date for these phones, but new predictions point to what we should expect from hardware.

KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo predicts that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will sport a 1334×750 Retina display at 326 pixels per inch, while the 5.5″ will see a 1920×1080 screen at 401 PPI. Now while the 326 PPI display of the 4.7-inch model retains the current resolution that we find in the iPhone 5s, there’s no denying that it is disappointing in today’s market. It seems that the big surprise will come from the 5.5-inch model, which might finally abide to an industry standard with a 1080p display. The report says that since both devices will retain the same aspect ratio, apps won’t have to be redesigned to fit the new display resolution. Given the new display size, there might be shift in the power button to allow better one-handed usability.

When it comes to specs, he predicts that the devices will include Apple’s Touch ID technology, the A8 processor, 1GB of RAM, a narrower bezel by 10 to 20 percent, and a thinner design overall. Just like in the case of the iWatch, he also predicts that we’ll see NFC on this device, though it’s hard to tell what Apple plans to do with it.

As for sapphire, it seems that because of supply restraints, this new “cover” will only be available to the higher-end models of either iPhone, being this the 64GB model. We were expecting this to be the display and not just a cover, but it seems this will be the case initially. The plan seems to be to port sapphire to all iPhones in the future in order to bring TouchID to the display for improved accuracy, but that won’t be possible this year.

For those of you expecting a boost in the camera, rumors continue of both iPhones retaining the old 8-megapixel camera. Pixels will be larger as with the iPhone 5s, and we do expect an f2.2 aperture to be included, but it seems the camera bump will have to wait another year.

Obviously these are just predictions. They come from a very trusted source that’s rarely ever gone wrong, so these rumors could hold water going forward. We should expect both devices to be launched in the fall, though separate launches are still being predicted even by this source.