iPhone 6 to have a bigger screen

Apple is to release its new iPhone in September, with higher resolution and bigger screen, in its latest salvo in the smartphone wars, where it has lost global market share to rivals Samsung.

The handset, expected to be called the iPhone 6, is to come in two versions with a 4.7in or 5.5in screen, bigger than the current 4in panel, the Nikkei business daily said.

US-based Apple is ordering its higher-resolution liquid crystal display screens from Japanese electronics giant Sharp, Japan Display, and South Korea’s LG Display, it added.

Apple released the iPhone 5 in September 2012 and newer versions in the series last year. A Japan-based spokesman for the California tech giant could not be immediately reached for comment on the Nikkei report, which was picked up by technology news sites.

The Nikkei story comes after Taiwan’s Commercial Times said this month that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co had started producing chips for the next iPhone.

That news fed rumours that Apple is reducing its reliance for parts on South Korean giant Samsung — its main competitor in the mobile phone market and a bitter rival, with whom it is contesting several court battles.