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Will a larger-screened iPhone 6 still fit comfortably in one hand?

Leaked photos examined by blog site uSwitch imply Apple may enlarge the screen of its next iPhone but keep the device small enough to use with one hand.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read

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Though it may offer a larger screen, the next iPhone could still fit and work nicely in one hand. Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple's anticipated iPhone 6 will reportedly adopt a 4.7-inch screen to lure in consumers craving big-screened phones. Does that mean you'll need two hands to work and play with the larger phone? Not according to a report released Friday by tech blog and product comparison site uSwitch.

Giving the iPhone 6 a bigger screen almost implies that the phone itself will also have to grow in size. If so, the downside is that a larger phone might not fit as comfortably in one hand as do the current 5S and 5C models. Users, especially those of us with small fingers, might have to use two hands to reach the top of the touchscreen or the bottom area near the home button.

But an analysis of "exclusive photos" of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 garnered by uSwitch along with leaks from known Apple leaker Sonny Dickson suggest that Apple has cooked up some ways to keep the expected iPhone 6 small despite its larger screen.

In one photo examined by uSwitch, the area of the iPhone 6 near the home button seems to have been reduced in size when compared with the same area on the the iPhone 5S. Other photos appear to show that Apple has also employed smaller bezels on the sides of the screen to further keep the phone small enough to fit in your hand and your pocket.

Based simply on leaked photos, information like this should always be taken with a grain of salt. But uSwitch has tried to add some credibility to its data by pointing to a code called "6G" on the iPhone screens that it analyzed. According to supply-chain sources and iPhone repairers in the UK, putting the letter G after the model phone number is a common naming convention, as the iPhone 4 was known as the iPhone 4G and the iPhone 5 as the 5G.

Of course, the photos may still not be the real deal, which means the information about a small but big-screened iPhone 6 might not be credible.

However, one of the problems with big-screened phones is their overall size, often requiring the use of two hands to work them. Trying to top the competition with its own large-screened phone, Apple could have easily played around with the size to make sure that the 4.7-inch iPhone fits snugly for those of us who still prefer the one-handed approach.