Bigger iPhone Screen? Apple CEO Tim Cook Says No

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If you follow iPhone rumors closely - and we mean really closely - you might have heard the one about a larger screen for the next iPhone. Rumors this week from China suggested Apple was working on a 4.8-inch screen; the screen on the iPhone 5 measures 4 inches diagonally.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook said today the company believes the iPhone 5 has the "right" screen size. "The iPhone 5 offers a new Retina Display and is the most advanced display in the industry," Cook said on the company's earnings call this evening. "It also provides a larger screen size without sacrificing the one-handed ease of use. We put a lot of thinking into screen size and we believe we have picked the right one."

Cook was answering a question from an analyst who was asking if Apple would keep up with the screen sizes of competitng Android phones, like Samsung's Galaxy S 3, which has a 4.8-inch screen. Samsung's Galaxy S 3 has become one of biggest competitors - if not the single biggest - to the iPhone, selling 30 million since its release in May. Apple announced today that it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the last quarter.

Still, while Cook holds that the iPhone 5 has the right screen size, Steve Jobs said the same thing about the iPad, when he was asked if Apple would ever make a smaller tablet, like the 7-inch tablets on the market. Of course, Apple changed its mind, releasing the 7.9-inch Pad Mini in November. Either way, Apple's head honcho has spoken: the iPhone 5 has the "right" sized screen. At least right now.