On release date this 2014, the iPhone 6 will sport a bigger screen at 4.7-inch but not huge enough to compete with Android phablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

However, according to Apple Insider, Apple is definitely fielding an entry to the supersized smartphone this year. Its bet would be a 5.6-inch behemoth, which the tech giant will not call an iPhone at all.

News from Taiwan and Japan indicated that there will be two separate iOS smartphone rollouts in 2014. The main event involves the rumoured iPhone 6, which likely will flash a display screen that stretches 4.7-inch diagonally but short of being a full-sized phablet.

The rationale for the screen size upgrade cap is: Apple would want the next iPhone to remain optimised with one-hand navigation while at the same aligning with the trend of increasingly bigger viewing windows for flagship smartphones.

This iPhone 6, Apple Insider said, is scheduled for debut and global distribution in the third quarter of 2014, the definite date likely falling in the month of September or exactly a year after the iPhone 5S was introduced in 2013.

And contrary to earlier suggestion, the 5S replacement will be conventionally built - meaning most of the same manufacturing model from last year will be applied to the new product.

The casing will likely have the same material and the glass cover will still be sourced from Corning Gorilla, dousing cold water on earlier speculations that the iPhone 6 will be a tougher device with Liquidmetal and sapphire guarding its case and components.

Sapphire, however, will still be in Apple's iOS device supply chain. According to BGR, pointing to The Economic Daily News in Taiwan as source, a 5.6-inch iOS phablet is already in the works and should be ready for official introduction soon, likely earlier than the iPhone 6.

Dubbed for now as Apple's experimental device, the larger smartphone will boast of specs and features that are vastly different from that of the iPhone 6. The same report also emphasised that Apple is not calling the new toy an iPhone.

But it will have all the works that should convince gadget shoppers to seriously consider, specifically the phablet lovers. The likelihood is, many of the rumoured specs and features earlier attributed to the iPhone 6 will be manifested in this iOS phablet, which the report said is yet to get a formal name from Apple.

One of them is sapphire material that GT Advanced Technology will manufacture in volumes.

As mentioned, Apple's initial phablet try will be released ahead of the iPhone 6, which likely will happen between June and August 2014 or a few months after the rumoured Galaxy S5 commercial release on April of the same year.

As for the actual iPhone 6 release date, D-Day should come without delay plus enough supplies for everyone with the device displaying exciting feature upgrades such as 64-bit A8 processing chip, enhanced Touch ID, wireless solar charging panel and iOS 8.