IPhone 5 going all supermodel: tall and skinny?

Apple already has stunning industrial design. Now the fruitarian Cupertino company is going all supermodel on us.

9-5 Mac played with the iOS Simulator app that Apple provides developers for testing and found that it works perfectly with an extra 176 pixels in height … meaning that Apple has enabled a higher screen resolution either for testing or, perhaps more likely, in preparation for the iPhone 5.

176 pixels more is exactly one additional row of icons on the home screen. And … it would be almost exactly a 16 x 9 ratio: perfect for high-def video entertainment.

To be specific, this means the iPhone 5 screen would be 640 pixels wide by 1,136 pixels tall, as opposed to the current model, which is 640 by 960. Presumably the screen resolution would stay the same at  326 pixels per inch.

In case you’re wondering, here’s how the new size would compare to the iPhone 4s:

Above: iPhone 5 versus iPhone4s

Image Credit: John Koetsier

While nothing is confirmed until it ships, this is consistent with both the rumors of a larger iPhone 5 screen and Steve Jobs’ obsession with making the phone, for lack of a better term, one-hand-able … not so large that “you can’t get your hand around it.”

The current iPhone has a 3.5″ screen, while competitors such as the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III have 4.7- and 4.8-inch screens, respectively. A 640 x 1,136 iPhone 5 would be compatible with a rumored 4″ screen size.

More screen real estate is always welcome, but so is pocketability. And one-handed use is important to both Apple and busy, preoccupied users.

The new iPhone 5, if indeed these are the measurements, might just satisfy all three requirements.

Image credit: photofriday / Shutterstock.com