apple would not possibly change the aspect ratio 1.5. if it is 1.6, 1.7, 1.79, these would be less pretty and less user friendly.
think what is our usual habit, hold the phone vertically, read row by row, left to right. "wider" would be better, in this phone case "wider" means the AR value has to be lower, not higher. the TV/ mons we are used to are all in wide format, not "tall" format, it is against our perception. i am a grown up man, i don't think watching video on small screen is fun thing.
i actually hope samsung noticed this: the ace, ace plus are pretty because they use AR1.5 screen, and ppl think these look like iphone. unfortunately the newer ace 2 is changed to AR1.67 screen.
general public should not notice this tiny difference. Apple products are pretty because they know some rules of beauty.
i do hope to see AR1.41 screen, that would be the same feel and look of a A4 paper. the newest top model from samsung S3 uses AR1.78 screen, i think it is too tall. screen area can be better assigned to left and right.
a 3.5" AR1.5 phone is not the same as a 3.5" AR1.79 phone. actual area is 8% different. nowadays ppl would just compare the diagonal size