“The elephant in the room is Apple and what rivals have known for years is Apple is planning an iPhone with a larger screen,” Gordon Kelly writes for Forbes. “In fact for the last 12 months leaks have consistently revealed the iPhone 6 will have a 4.7 inch screen. That’s big for an iPhone, but ‘mini’ compared to the 5+ inch behemoths Apple rivals have at the top of their phone ranges.”

“So it presents a simple, but invaluable opportunity: make smaller versions of your flagship 5+inch devices to combat the impending iPhone 6,” Kelly writes. “Given their names (S4/S5 Mini, G2/G3 Mini, One/One M8 Mini) and screen sizes (4.3in to 4.7in) Apple rivals appear to have done exactly that… but they haven’t.”

“The iPhone 6 will be the most significant form factor shift in iPhone history and with it comes a very real risk that Apple will not get either the hardware or software right,” Kelly writes. “After all a major rethink of iOS could be on the cards, particularly with the back button currently positioned in what will be a hard-to-reach top left corner.”

Read more in the full article here .

MacDailyNews Take: iPhones do not have a “back button,” dummkopf. The risk that Apple, of all companies, “will not get either the hardware or software right” is considerably lower than Mr. Back Button would have his readers believe.

As for “cutting Apple off at the knees” and other such delusional fantasies:

Asymco: iPhone shipment, revenue, profit share

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]