Apple on a larger-screen tryouts for iPad and iPhone

Apple Inc. and its Asian suppliers are testing larger screens for iPhones and tablets, officials at the companys suppliers say. Recently, Apple has asked its engineers to come up with smartphone screens larger than 4 inches and has also asked for screen designs for a new tablet device reaching slightly less than 13 inches, they said. The current iPhone 5 has a four-inch screen, while the iPad has a 9.7-inch screen. The iPad Mini, a stripped-down version of firms flagship, has a 7.9-inch screen.

The tests with suppliers is underlining Apples determination for exploring ways to capture diversifying customer needs at a time when many mobile device makers offer flexible choices of smartphones and tablets. Its biggest rival in the tablet and smartphone markets, South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co., has an “all things to all people” strategy, covering many different product sizes to capture as many customers as possible. The move has allowed Samsung to catch up and even surpass Apple in the smartphone market even though Apple still leads in tablets.

In the first quarter, Samsung was the leading smartphone maker with 33.1% of the market, while Apple trailed in second place with 17.9%, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. In tablets, Apple is still the dominant player but its market share fell to 39.6% in the three months ended March 31 from 58.1% a year earlier, according to IDC. Samsung, which uses Google Inc.s Android operating system, saw its tablet market share rise to 17.9% from 11.3% a year earlier.

“In the long run, we will see touch screens in all sizes as the future vision of the technology industry is to offer the same user experience across all screens,” said IDC analyst Helen Chiang. “The key is to bring down the cost and introduce compelling applications for large-screen devices.”, she added for the Wall Street Journal.

The new iPhone device is supposed to be ready for market launch as soon as next month according to one of Apples suppliers. Meanwhile, the tech giant has also been working with its manufacturing partners in Asia on a less expensive iPhone that will likely use some kind of plastic casing, to differentiate itself from the aluminum casing of high-end iPhone 5. The shells of both iPhone models will come in multiple color options, officials at suppliers said earlier.