Is iPhone 5 display support *necessary* for app su

Question

Quick question: Do new apps submitted now NEED to have customized UI's for the iPhone 5 display?

Details: I'm looking for a definitive resource / article which mentions whether new iPhone apps submitted now (i.e. after the iPhone 5 launch) absolutely MUST have full screen custom UIs for the new iPhone 5 screen size.

I basically have an iPhone app which I've been working on for a while (pre-iPhone 5) and is only now complete. Obviously it doesn't have custom UI's tailored for an iPhone 5, but of course will run well in the 'letterboxed' format. It'd be too much of an effort and cost to change the whole UI to fully support the iPhone 5 screen now, so was wondering whether there would be any issue in submitting the app as is, and maybe adding iPhone 5 support in a later update.

I've gone through the official App Submission Guidelines without seeing any particular mention of this fact, and have come across several similar questions here on SO, but none which directly answer this issue. Any help would be welcome!

Answer 1

As it turns out, it will be necessary starting May 1, 2013, as per Apple developer news: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=3212013b

Starting May 1, new apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built for iOS devices with Retina display and iPhone apps must also support the 4-inch display on iPhone 5.

Answer 2

NO, Its not *necessary* at all. Apple depends on us to set Development Target on which iOS version we want to support, at the same way the Device. However it's good for us developers to give support for iPhone5 devices to get more audience for our apps.

Answer 3

Well, it doesn't look like there's any conclusive evidence to dig up on this issue. From what I've been able to gather,

• Apple still accepts Apps which do not support the new iPhone 5 resolution
• New apps, thought they may not support the new res, must at least have iPhone 5 sized screenshots

A couple of links which I found useful,

1. At GameSalad forums
2. At Apple Dev Forums: iPhone 5 support with base SDK iOS5.1
3. At Apple Dev Forums: My question