iPhone 5 is still the best looking phone today.
Competition is not standing still. Some nice “premium” phones are coming out from other companies.

It makes me wonder what will Apple do to stay on top, and beat out the competition.
This is how I imagine the next iPhone 6
3 key areas the next iPhone have to address:

improve its already spectacular design of iPhone 5
compete with cheap smartphones
compete with large-screen smartphones (phablets).

Home Button

It has been there since the first iPhone.

The physical Home Button is one of the best design features of the iPhone, but it takes up a lot of space at the front.

How about moving Home button to the side?
We could end up with a bigger screen or a smaller phone.

Two Home Buttons, one on each side.

With Home button on the side, there’s room to add another row of icons, while physical dimensions remain the same as iPhone 5.

Closeup of the side Home button

Feature two Home Buttons, one on each side, instead of one.

More possible functions combining left & right Home buttons with a single, double, triple-click. (Example: double click left Home button then single click the right Home button; or press left & right at the same time, etc).

iPhone 6 same dimensions as iPhone5
H x W x D – 124mm x 59mm x 7.6mm

I estimate it would cost the same as iPhone 5 $650 without a contract ($200 with two-year contract).

Side view

Is one iPhone enough?

Apple has 4 iPods (Touch, Nano, Classic & Shuffle), and 2 iPads (iPad & iPad mini).
Why Not 3 different iPhones?

Size comparison from left to right
iPhone 5, iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6, & iPhone 6 XL

 iPhone 6 Mini

Cheaper, smaller iPhone to compete with cheap Android phones, aimed at developing and prepaid markets.

Same premium materials as “flagship” iPhone, but with a smaller screen.
The screen is the same size as iPhone 4.

I estimate it would cost $350 – $450 without a contract ($0 – $100 with a two-year contract).
More expensive than some hope for, but the same happened with the iPad mini.

iPhone 6 Mini – screen is same size as iPhone 4
H x W x D – 96.5mm x 59mm x 7.6mm

iPhone XL – Large screen iPhone

There is a significant demand for a larger screen iPhone.
A bigger Screen would allow for 1 extra row & 1 extra column of icons.

Same premium materials as “flagship” iPhone, but a larger screen.
Perfect for one-handed use, unlike ridiculously oversized Samsung Galaxy Note.

iPhone 6 XL – larger screen, perfect for one-handed use
H x W x D – 137mm x 70mm x 7.6mm

I estimate it would cost $750 – $900 without a contract ($300 – $400 with two-year contract).

Size comparison, from left to right
iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

Side view, size comparison,
iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

3 very different iPhones

Multiple screen size options for different segments of the market.
More choices for customers.

iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL

This is my vision of the next iPhone.

Let me know what you think.