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If Apple Releases This iPhone 5 Design, It's Definitely Not Screwed

iphone 5
9To5Mac

Our own Henry Blodget is ready to declare Apple dead in the water after seeing a few leaked images of an alleged next-generation iPhone.

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His primary beef?

"The 'iPhone 5' looks pretty much like the iPhone 4S. Which looked exactly like the iPhone 4, a phone that is now two years old."

At a quick glance, the phones might look similar, but the truth of the matter is the new phone is going to be radically different.

It's going to have millions of people, including Blodget lined up, as soon as it hits the market.

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(We're going to assume these leaked images of the iPhone are accurate. There's a good chance they're not, making this whole debate moot.)

I've always loved the iPhone 4 design, so I think it's a good move that the next iPhone will echo it, at least from the front and sides. Take a look at the evolution of iMac and MacBook designs. Each new design cleverly builds on the last. And no one complains.

That appears to be what Apple is doing here with the new iPhone. Instead of a radical redesign, it's building on the successful design of the iPhone 4, adding a taller screen and making it noticeably thinner. Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac estimated that the new iPhone will be about as thin as the metal band that surrounds the iPhone 4. That's quite a feat.

Henry also complains that the new iPhone's screen doesn't appear to be much larger than the current iPhone display. I reached out to him via instant message to quash that notion. Here's what he said:

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Me: That leaked iPhone case does have a bigger screen. It's taller.

HB: Yawn.

Me: Enough room for an extra row of app icons.

HB: More app icons!! Whoopee!!

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At 4 inches, that extra screen space will be immediately noticeable to anyone who has been using the 3.5-inch iPhone display. I guarantee it makes a difference once people get their hands on it. Even Henry will agree when I show him the new iPhone compared to his old 3GS. (I was the one who showed him the Galaxy S III, which he's been going nuts over.) I agree that the screen on the Galaxy S III is gorgeous. In fact, it's my favorite feature on the phone. But it still falls short of the killer "Retina" resolution of the iPhone and iPad. That also makes a huge difference.

Finally, Henry thinks the next iPhone will only offer modest improvements over the iPhone 4S. Based on what I've been hearing, that's also wrong. The next iPhone will likely be a major hardware overhaul. It'll connect to 4G LTE networks for super fast download speeds, have a faster processor, have more RAM, and come with a thinner, more responsive touchscreen. Those aren't modest improvements.

It's a big deal. And it's why Apple, if it releases this phone as the next iPhone, is definitely not screwed.

You can check out all the alleged iPhone 5 images here >

Apple iPhone
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