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The 5.5 inch variant of the iPhone 6 could sport a better processor

• Jacob Chambers
• August 5th, 2014

It has been known for a long time that Apple is planning on releasing two distinct models of the iPhone 6 – a 4.7 inch base model, and a 5.5 inch premium model. Some industry insiders believe that there will be more than just screen size to differentiate between the two. AppleInsider has gotten its hands on a prediction report from Cowen & Co. analyst Timothy Arcuri explaining that due to Asian part supply reports, it’s quite possible that Apple will be providing the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 with a more powerful processor than the 4.7 inch version.

While not official information, the report definitely seems to have some logic behind it. Apple has indeed previously built various versions of its chips – the A5 also came in an A5X variant, while the A6 received an A6X version. Whether or not the same principle will be applied with the new, upcoming A8 CPU remains to be seen. Boosting clock speeds would not be unheard of – we’ve seen different variants of the A7 chip in the iPad Mini Retina and iPad Air after all. There will clearly have to be some differences between the 4.7 and 5.5 inch versions of the iPhone 6. Apple will have to justify the price difference on the larger model, and simply providing a bigger display doesn’t seem like a probably or plausible approach. Whether or not the company will indeed go for stronger hardware too remains to be seen however.

Most hints about the two iPhone 6 phones show that the base 4.7 inch model will be released ahead of the 5.5 inch version sibling, which would also indicate that there are still hardware tweaks in the works for the larger version. The 4.7 inch iPhone 6 is believed to be unveiled on the 19th of September, while the larger version will come at a later time, most likely in November. The 5.5 inch iPhone 6 is being designed to directly compete with Samsung’s upcoming flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which is also programmed for an appearance at IFA 2014 in Berlin, on the 3rd of September.