"Most of the top selling Android phone are 4.5 and larger like the 4.8" Samsung, Don't get me wrong, I am all for a larger screen on the iPhone and if I have to settle for only a slightly larger 4" screen then I guess I will."
One of the primary reasons people have given is that they observe lots of people with large Android phones:
"I rarely see iPhone's anymore like I used to but see large Android phones all over the place. I remember at Halloween waiting in a very long line at a haunted house being the only person with an iPhone while I observed dozens and dozens of Android phones with large displays. Even all the young kids and teenagers had one and some of these kids were very small, like under 5' tall with tiny hands but they sure didn't seem to have any trouble using them or putting them in their pockets. But even at clubs or expensive restaurants with all adults seeing an iPhone is becoming a bit more rare for me recently. All anecdotal for sure but when many other people all across the country are saying the same thing...."
It usually goes like this:
step 1: assume that because you want a *insert product Apple doesn't or no longer offers*, everyone else does too
step 2: tell stories about how many people you know have one or want one and how important or large that group of people is
step 3: when sales figures don't backup widespread demand, the figures aren't important and Apple should still make the product because you still want one
The same applies in reverse though. You have no idea how few people would buy one when a 4" flagship model would be available that costs less. Trying every possible variation under the sun to see what sticks is Samsung's tactic. It's not an efficient way to do it because you can't possibly apply the same marketing to every model equally. Samsung is pushing consumers towards larger displays because they market their flagship models more.
If Apple came out with a 4.3" model at a higher price, it probably would sell a reasonable amount because they'd run their marketing machine behind it - above that size would be trickier because they'd have to undo their marketing about why they designed the smaller one around one-handed use. There are other things they have to consider like avoiding problems for developers, avoiding manufacturing issues, managing inventory and whether it will sell enough to justify doing.
That's because you want to use your phone like your iPad. There's a reason Apple makes both. I use my iPhone like a phone. It's not great for reading on and a Galaxy Note isn't either. At no point would I use a Galaxy Note in place of an iPad or iPad mini.
The 4.3" Galaxy S2 sold 40 million units. It's over a long timeframe but lots of people bought one. The S3 managed that in 1/3 the time due to the way the market grows e.g the iPhone 4S sold at double the rate of the 4, despite having very few changes.
It's not a case of thinking about it. Apple isn't losing a lot of sales to HTC or Samsung. Apple has 20% of the phone market, Samsung has 30%. Apple's flagship phones outsold Samsung's in Q1 2013. Apple takes in more than double Samsung's profits. HTC made under $3m profit in Q1 (that's million, not billion). This quarter, they project $2.37b revenue. Apple's quarterly revenue is $43.6b.
Do you honestly think that bigger phones will propel HTC to nearly 20x their revenue just because they're bigger? Even despite the fact they've been selling large phones since at least 2011:
Comments
So how come the Galaxy Ace with its 2.8" screen is one of the top selling Android phones?
Because they sell them in pairs and market them as a 5.6" device?¡