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Apple delaying iPhone 5S due to switch in screen size?

Wacky iPhone 5S rumor? A report claims Apple is delaying release of the iPhone 5S due to a screen-size specification change.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
Has Apple decided mid-stream to change the iPhone 5S' screen size?
Has Apple decided midstream to change the iPhone 5S' screen size? Apple

Put this in the radical rumor file. Apple has decided to delay the iPhone 5S in order to switch to a larger screen size, say Asia-sourced reports.

Apple will delay the release of the iPhone 5S in order to give it time to make a switch to a larger screen size, according to a report from BrightWire News, citing sources at suppliers. Commercial Times, via Bloomberg, is also reporting the rumor.

Apple has decided to up the screen size from 4 inches to 4.3 inches, the report claimed.

"[Apple] halted processor production for [the] iPhone 5S in May," according to BrightWire news. That initial iPhone 5S design had a 4-inch screen.

The 5S was expected to hit the market in September or October but has been pushed back to the end of the year, both reports said.

Budget iPhones will be released by October, as expected. That design was not changed.

Large-screen phones with displays bigger than 4 inches are catching on fast. It's remotely possible that Apple believes it needs to respond to market demands more quickly.

Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.