What would iOS 6 look like on the next generation iPhone? This question arises especially because it is widely expected that iPhone 5 will feature a display larger than the iPhone 4S. According to a report by 9to5Mac, the author Mark Gurman states that the latest builds of iOS 6 are made in a way that the new interface will displayed well at a resolution of 1136 x 640.
An iOS specialist, Sonny Dickson has created some screenshots to show how applications will display on the iPhone 5, if Apple does launch a handset with a larger display. The report by 9to5Mac states, “Dickson installed some applications into the tweaked iPhone simulator, and the results are interesting. Apps that are already included and optimized for the iOS 6 simulator appear to have tweaked interfaces that fit the taller display”.
From the screenshots we can see that most native apps found in iOS seem to be optimized perfectly for an iPhone with a larger display. The website goes on to state that the home screen application folder now includes 16 apps as opposed to 12 found on the current-generation iPhones. The report adds, “Interestingly, apps that Sonny installed over from the iOS 5 simulator into the iOS 6 simulator run pillar-boxed with black bars on the top and bottom of the app. We’re not sure if this is the result of the simulator tweaking or if this is actually the route Apple will take to run apps that are not optimized for the purported taller iPhone display”.
From the screenshots we can see that most native apps found in iOS seem to be optimized perfectly for an iPhone with a larger display. The website goes on to state that the home screen application folder now includes 16 apps as opposed to 12 found on the current-generation iPhones. The report adds, “Interestingly, apps that Sonny installed over from the iOS 5 simulator into the iOS 6 simulator run pillar-boxed with black bars on the top and bottom of the app. We’re not sure if this is the result of the simulator tweaking or if this is actually the route Apple will take to run apps that are not optimized for the purported taller iPhone display”.
The website also states applications that include TableViews (for example, a contact list or a contact card) built with the Apple user interface, automatically scale. The Auto Layout feature that was not given the spotlight at the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote, will be incorporated in iOS 6 to allow this scaling. This feature will allow app developers to apply constraints that define how the elements of the user interface are displayed on-screen. These elements can be moved depending on a prioritized list of rules. The Auto Layout feature will be especially beneficial if Apple launches an iPhone with a larger display or an iPad with a smaller one. This should reduce the issue of fragmentation, which the brand has avoided so far.
Apple is expected to increase the size of the display to four inches diagonally. Apple will increase the height, thereby giving it a resolution of 1136 x 640, which is an extra 176 pixels from the current iPhone. The aspect ratio would thus rise to 16:9 from the 3:2 aspect ratio found on present-generation iPhones. Though the length of the screen will be raised, it is believed that the width of the display will remain the same.
