The expected appearance later this year of two new iPhones from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is being almost breathlessly anticipated by pundits and bloggers, but what about buyers? Will consumers buy the new phones if/when they are released?

According to the latest survey from ChangeWave Research, consumer interest in the next generation iPhone — iPhone 6? — is “unprecedented.” Some 14% of survey respondents said they are “very likely” to buy an iPhone 6 and another 26% are “somewhat likely” to buy one. A ChangeWave analyst said:

This is the highest level of demand for an unannounced Apple model in a ChangeWave survey — stronger than we’ve seen in previous years for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5 models prior to their announcements. Speculation over a larger screen iPhone is clearly striking a chord with consumers.

Over the past two releases — the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5s — purchase likelihood dropped from a total of 33% to 26%. As ChangeWave noted, the jump to 40% is likely due mostly to the larger screen sizes being rumored. We noted the rumors that an iPhone with a 4.7-inch screen could announced as early as July and a 5.5-inch device could follow in September. Both devices would go on sale in the fourth quarter.

Nearly half (47%) of all future buyers of smartphones want a phone with a 5-inch or larger screen, according to ChangeWave. That is up from 40% in December and 32% in September of 2013. That is good news for Samsung Electronics and its Galaxy S5 phone with a 5.1-inch screen that hit store shelves around the world on Friday.

Smartphones have become huge consumers of video and the smaller screens of the existing iPhones do not compete well with the large screens available from Samsung and other vendors. Apple apparently got the message and we will soon find out if consumers like the company’s answer.

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