iPhone 5 to get bigger screen?

The next Apple iPhone will have a larger screen than its predecessors, reports suggest.

The iPhone 5’s screen will apparently measure four inches diagonally – up half an inch from the iPhone 4’s screen which is 3.5 inches.

This is to ensure it competes with rival Google Android smartphones which generally have screens between four and seven inches in size.

Component suppliers say Apple is interested in expanding the screen size as production lines begin testing, claims Digitimes, as reported by Eurogamer.

Other phones with four-inch screens include the Samsung Galaxy S and Google’s Nexus S. Sharp has a 5.5-inch screen on its smartphone while Acer plans to launch a 4.8-inch smartphone.

Apple’s launch history suggests the iPhone 5 will arrive sometime this summer. The iPhone 3G launched in July 2008, while the 3GS followed in June 2009 and the iPhone 4 arrived in June 2010.