Apple will be switching it up for its next smartphone, the iPhone 6, new designs are underway and slated to be release as soon as 2014, Bloomberg reported.
New iPhone models will feature larger screen displays with glass that curves downward at the edges, approaching in size the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3 that Samsung Electronics Co. debuted in September.
Last month, Samsung released its curved-screen Galaxy Round, the latest phone in an array of sizes and price points, which is helping to keep Samsung ahead of Apple in global market share.
"Screen size is one of the things where Apple has to catch up to the Android camp," Dennis Chan, an analyst at Yuanta Financial Holding Co. in Taipei, told Bloomberg. "Innovation in components has been a key for Apple since the first iPhone came out."
The new phones will reportedly have a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, making the two models Apple's largest iPhones thus far. They will be considerably larger than the current iPhone 5s, which feature 4-inch screens.
Apple is also developing touch sensors that can detect different levels of pressure, or distinguish heavy or light touches.
These will not be ready in time for use with the new iPhones being developed, but the sensors will be incorporated into subsequent models, the Business Insider reported.
Testing continues on the pressure-sensitive technology.
Samsung is far ahead in touch sensors and large displays, Venture Beat reported. The Galaxy Note series of phones, which first came out in late 2011, have large screens that are sensitive to different levels of pressure.
New handsets are also in development and will probably be released in the third quarter of next year, Bloomberg reported.
The iPhone is Apple's most profitable product, and many iPhone users have been eagerly awaiting the company's launch of a larger screen.
