Apple is definitely issuing an iPhone that sports a screen larger than the 4-inch currently found on the iPhone 5 and its release date will happen within the first half of 2014, a new report said.

Known Apple watcher Brian White said in a research note released this week that the tech giant is entering the phablet competition next year via a big-screen iOS smartphone model that media reports have been referring to as the iPhone 6.

His assessment, however, offered no specifics except that the oversized smartphone's display screen will surely exceed Apple's current standard of four inches.

Yet his most interesting projection concerns the so-called low-cost iPhone model, which his report termed as the iPhone Mini, suggesting that the handset will hit the market with the same 3.5-inch screen seen in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

As in previous reports, Mr White offered no new details about the latest iPhone model that analysts said is specifically geared for the price-sensitive markets, with China and India as among the prime destinations.

However, the analysts seems convinced that the iPhone Mini will hit store shelves in five colour options, supporting an earlier reports by Japanese blog site MacOtakara.

The budget mobile phone will naturally come in Apple's signature black and white casing plus pink and blue, Mr White told CNET. He left out the fifth colour, which could come in red, basing on earlier leaked reports and renders.

The likelihood is Apple will push out the iPhone Mini a few weeks before the iPhone 5S release date, according to Mr White. The popular belief among analysts is a 5S outing between late August and early September, which puts the iPhone Mini debut as early as July.

This latest estimate jibes with an earlier report that Apple is rechanneling key resources to produce cheaper iOS devices, likely leading to Q4 2013 release of a cheaper iPad Mini that one analyst said will come with a $US249 tag price.

As for the iPhone Mini, Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley has predicted last week that Apple will retail it at $US399, maximum, and still afford considerable profit margins.