The iPhone 5 rumors are back. This time an analyst is predicting that the next generations of the Apple (AAPL: NYSE) device will have a 4-inch screen.

It is nearly half a year from the launch of the next iPhone but Susquehanna Financial analyst Chris Caso is claiming that the production of the iPhone 5 will commence in June and will sport a larger 4-inch screen.

There are widespread rumors that iPhone 5 would sport a 3.7 to 4.0 inches Quantum Dot LED curved glass edge-to-edge display with features like scratch-resistant glass, aluminum plate casing, oleophobic coating, accelerometer, gyro and proximity sensor.

There is much doubt about this, however. Even though the iPhone 4S was rumored to have a screen size of 3.7 to 4-inch, Apple stuck to its usual 3.5-inch screen. If screen sizes are indeed increased, Apple would most probably keep the display resolution intact, to avoid fragmentation. But that would reduce the device's pixel density to nearly 290 ppi, which means the device's screen would lose its "Retina" tag.

To release a 4-inch iPhone, Apple would, most probably, have to make a tradeoff between a higher resolution screen and a non-fragmented platform. It'll be interesting to see if the company can figure out an alternative way.

What could have pushed the Cupertino-based company to have a 4-inch screen is competition? Many of Apple's competitors are already moving towards offering larger screens as a way to attract customers. However, it seems that screen size does not really matter to consumers when shopping for smartphones.

The analyst also claimed that the first quarter production forecast for iPhone went up from 30.5 - 35.5 million to 32.0 - 36.5 million . Caso also expects Apple to produce 10 million to 14 million iPads in the first quarter.