Yesterday we reported that according to Digitimes, Apple could be looking to develop a cheaper iPhone for the Chinese market, and it looks like Digitimes and The Wall Street Journal might have gotten tipped off by the same source because according to The Wall Street Journal, they are corroborating the rumors that an inexpensive iPhone is indeed in the works. However unlike Digitimes which suggested that this cheaper iPhone could be targeted at emerging markets such as China, the Wall Street Journal claims that this low-cost iPhone is Apple’s answer to its slipping smartphone supremacy, and to be fair we guess targeting emerging markets with low-cost iPhones would be a way to capture a larger market share. The Wall Street Journal has suggested that this low-cost iPhone will be made from cheaper materials, such as polycarbonate versus the aluminum housing on the iPhone 5, and could see some of its parts recycled from older iPhone models.
The idea of a low-cost iPhone has apparently been floating about for some time, but it looks like that plan could be realized in the second half of 2013. Apple has in the past attempted low-cost iPhones by offering previous-generation iPhones at a low price, one example being the iPhone 3GS which was offered to customers in the US for free, although a two-year contract had to be signed. However we expect that with so much emphasis being placed on low-cost, this rumored low-cost iPhone could be more affordable on a whole different level. We’ll take this with a grain of salt for now, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled nonetheless.
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