The iPhone 5S will have a 'brand new' design with a bigger display

iPhone 5S rumours are hotting up again despite the distractions of CES 2013, and this time reports claim the next-generation iPhone will have a larger display than the iPhone 5’s 4-inch LCD while the rest of the exterior design will be ‘brand new’.

As usual, this information comes from DigiTimes’ ‘supply-chain sources’, so take it as you will. We recommend the salt.

Reports are growing increasingly muddied as different sources claim we’ll see a ‘low-cost’ iPhone or more than one model at different sizes and price points.

While there is some logic to the argument that Apple now needs to start differentiating its product it’s also tremendously out of character and, in the grand scheme of things, the company is a reluctant and lumbering giant when it comes to big changes.

Other rumours have suggested the next iPhone will come in a range of colours and it’s been reported that a big change will be the visual design of the iOS platform as Apple’s design guru Jony Ive has been assigned to interface duties.

DigiTimes’ sources claim that the iPad Mini’s lower-end price point has proven popular in emerging markets and China, a factor which may have served as a catalyst to push Apple towards introducing more lower-priced variants across its mobile product catalogue.

Allegedly Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chips will also go some way to enabling lower-cost iPhone designs, though that would imply the abandonment of the company’s own chip family and the adoption of stock Qualcomm hardware. Another huge change which may be entering fantasy territory.