Reports from Asian suppliers are that Apple has begun manufacturing a lower-priced version of its hot-selling iPhone 4. The new version will have a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive and is expected to launch within weeks.
“Apple may want to push into the emerging market segment where customers want to switch to low- to mid-end smartphones from high-end feature phones, which usually cost $150-200,” said Yuanta Securities analyst Bonnie Chang. “But I think for an 8GB iPhone 4 the price is hard to go below $200, so Apple will still need a completely new phone with low specifications for the emerging markets.”
Additionally, reports are that Apple is looking to launch the iPhone 5 by the end of September. Reportedly featuring a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera, 45 million such devices are said to be in the queue for Hon Hai and Pegatron.
Source: Reuters {link no longer active}
