Exactly one year ago today, Apple CEO Tim Cook said this during an earnings call:

“The iPhone 5 offers as you know a new 4-inch Retina display, which is the most advanced display in the industry and no one comes close to matching the level of quality as the Retina display. It also provides a larger screen size for iPhone customers without sacrificing the one-handed ease-of-use that our customers love. So, we put a lot of thinking into screen size and believe we’ve picked the right one.”

And so Apple stuck with the 4-inch display for the iPhone 5s and 5c. Tim Cook thought is was the right size, and so it was. Of course, some iPhone loyalists would tell you (maybe privately) that what they really wanted was a device with a big ol’ screen – or at least a screen as big as many of the iPhone’s competitors.

It looks like those people might just get their wish.

The Wall Street Journal is quoting “people familiar with the situation” who say that the next couple of iPhones, which are due out later this year, will sport larger screens. From the WSJ:

The people said Apple plans an iPhone model with a screen larger than 4½ inches measured diagonally, and a second version with a display bigger than 5 inches. Until now, Apple’s largest phone has been the 4-inch display on the iPhone 5.

The sources also indicate that Apple is going to ditch the plastic shell that the iPhone 5c currently rocks. Most would say “good riddance.”

Apple has a history of lagging behind the competition when it comes to screen sizes. As you probably recall, Apple didn’t even make the jump to 4 inches until the iPhone 5 – the iPhone 4s still sported the comically small 3.5-inch display.

Of course, this is just one report, but this isn’t the first such report of bigger screens we’ve heard recently. Just a few days ago, a Chinese analyst said that Apple would release two new iPhones this year – one with a 4.7-inch display and the other with a 5.7-inch display.

Image via Apple