New Apple iPhone with 4in screen for one-hand operation expected next year

A small screen variant of iPhone, measuring 4in, is reportedly in the works.

Apple introduced two new iPhone models – the 4.7in iPhone 6 and the 5.5in iPhone 6 Plus - in early September, followed by their release in the middle of the month. With the bigger iPhone 6 models, Apple made its debut in the large-screen smartphone segment.

Now it seems Apple is planning a smaller iPhone model. The Chinese site Feng, citing some supply chain sources, reports that Apple will bring a new 4in iPhone model in the second half of next year.

This move is to facilitate single-handed operations for female users. Apart from the screen size, there is not much information about other technical features of the device.

Meanwhile, there have been reports suggesting Apple will discontinue the iPhone 5c, the low-cost variant of the iPhone 5s with mid-range features, next year.

Production of the handset will stop in the middle of next year, as Apple suppliers such as Wistron and Foxconn will look to slow down the production of the devices.

This goes well with a report released by KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo's, according to which the production of iPhone 5c and the iPhone 4S would end later in 2015 after a promotional plan, reports MacRumors.

This would mean that Apple will stop the iPhone 5c and replace it with a new 4in iPhone model targeting the mid-range segment.

iPhone 6 sales record in the UK

Apple recently achieved a breakthrough in the UK smartphone market.

Currently, the iPhone accounts for 39.5% of British smartphone sales. This marks Apple's biggest-ever UK market share, with a quantum leap of 10.4% during the three months to October 2014.

"This success is particularly evident in Great Britain where Apple now has its highest ever share of sales with 39.5 per cent. Most of these sales were driven by loyal Apple users. Some 86 per cent of British buyers upgraded from an older iPhone model, only 5 per cent switched across from Samsung," said Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.