There is no clear-cut assurance that the iPhone 6 on release date would sport a phablet-size screen, as Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted in an interview that before going for the larger display the next iPhone must first nail the reliable technology.

Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Cook deftly manoeuvred into not discussing anything meaty about the rumoured iPhone 5S replacement as he insisted that fresh product categories from Apple are forthcoming this year.

Will there be an iOS phablet or a bigger screen and hybrid iPad that morphs into a laptop when users find the necessity for it? An iWatch perhaps?

The Apple big boss refused to delve on details, merely telling Daisuke Wakabayashi of The Wall Street Journal "we're not ready to talk about it."

He insisted, however, that "there will be new categories ... but we're working on some really great stuff."

Cook clarified too that his company is not completely ruling out the possibility of a large-screen iPhone, explaining that before entering the exploding phablet market Apple needs to seriously look into numerous considerations.

"There are many different parameters to measure a display and we care about all those, because we know that's the window to the software," the Apple chief was reported by Apple Insider as saying.

"We want to give our customers what's right in all respects - not just the size but in the resolution, in the clarity, in the contrast, in the reliability," he added.

In other words, Apple will not issue a handset that matches the burgeoning ranks of supersized Android smartphones just for the sake of finally competing in the phablet market. As the usual case, the iPhone maker want to first pinpoint the suitable technology for a display panel that dwarfs over its 4-inch iPhone 5S.

No compromise as Cook declared in interviews given last 2013.

Does this mean that the iPhone 6 expected to come out this year will keep the 4-inch profile that dates back to the iPhone 5?

It could be but Apple could also push for a major makeover of the existing iPhone model - upping its component capabilities and maybe stretching the screen size a bit. There might be a slight screen bump up but chances are, the next iPhone will not be as previously pictured in numerous speculations and report, Business Insider said.

Such likelihood is underpinned by earlier reports that for the 2014 iPhone, Apple will stick to most of the specs and features that were delivered last year via the iPhone 5S - keeping the handset's basic camera features with enhancements, of course, and maintaining the 4-inch viewing window.

But to test the phablet market, new iOS smartphones, bearing 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screens, will be issued independent of the premium iPhone 6, which will boast of a display that adheres to existing iPhone optimal standard of one-hand navigation.

Regardless of what screen-size or how many builds would be unpacked, the iPhone 6 release date is pegged for the second half of 2014 with the following confirmed features: Liquidmetal casing, sapphire glass cover and coating, 64-bit A8 CPU and iOS 8.