We have been reading some of the new analyst’s comments and user rumors about Apple’s next iPhone. Some are interesting some are ridiculous and others had me chuckling just a little bit. One of these is that Apple may be moving to a larger 4.65-inch screen (if you are seeing the irony here, don’t spoil it for anyone else). The analysts are saying that Apple is making this move so they offer a better experience to users of the iPhone and also to keep the iPhone in line with the “new” iPad’s resolution increase.

Sounds great huh? Larger screen, more pixels, what is not to love… While we were looking over some of the renders that sites have put up we started begin to see where doing this might get Apple in a bit of trouble. For those of you late to the Apple war on competition you might remember that they have gone after more than a few smartphone manufacturers for “slavishly” copying the iPhone. Now regardless of the fact that this is a ridiculous statement they have managed to get enough judges to buy into this to block sales of some devices (including some from HTC and are working on some from Samsung now). To be honest anyone that thinks the HTC or Samsun phones look like the iPhone are in need of an eye exam.

But, here is the rub… if Apple drops in a 4.65-inch screen won’t that make the iPhone look like other devices? Remember Samsung and others have been using 4.65 and 4.7-inch screens on their devices for a while. If Apple increases the size of their display and does not make a drastic redesign of the case it will look an awful lot like the Galaxy S II and the new Galaxy S III…. We wonder if Sansung’s lawyers are getting all worked up about this possibility. If Apple does this and follows many of the rumors that claim they are making a thinner iPhone with a larger screen then we could see some very active courts around October… But, hey how are all of those patent lawyers going to pay for their next house if it were not for Apple and Samsung?

Discuss this in our Forum