Apple's Low-Cost iPhone Design Said to Be Mix of iPhone 5 and iPod Touch with iPod Classic Curves

jagolden said:

Ick! Wouldn't touch it.

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Isn't that the point though... If they made them look as good as the premium iPhones a lot less people would buy those. These are meant for people who simply want a cheap phone.

My quick mockup was just based on this wild speculation and the real thing will probably be totally different... if it exists at all.

Some plastic aren't cheap people. I reckon that many plastics are more expensive than aluminum.

kjs862 said:

Some plastic aren't cheap people. I reckon that many plastics are more expensive than aluminum.

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Yeah they don't necessarily have to use plastic to make it cheap. Think how little an iPod shuffle costs Apple to make and they use quite a bit of aluminium in that design.

What a horrible business decision. Looks like Tim Cook has no damn clue and is just trying to appeal to shareholders. Making cheap plastic crap is something I didn't expect Apple to to, ever. Like other people mentioned, there are the 4/4s if people want low cost. This plastic one is so unnecessary.

I am glad I don't hold Apple stock.

On a somewhat unrelated note, IOS7 better deliver or I think it's time to leave Apple.

Waste of time

Never mind ****ing about with a low cost phone, Apple need to get their act together on a decent high end model ... and might I suggest before I plonk down my money on a new Galaxy S4 (because the iPhone 5 is just too boring and low a spec compared to new competitor models!)

StoneJack said:

ipad mini?

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I have that and use it that way. It's great.

For teenagers, pocket ability still matters. It needs to look like an iPhone for this idea to fly.

Here is my mockup with the iPod Classic for comparison. Isn't the iPod Classic Aluminium and not plastic anyway?

If the lowcost iPhone 5s looks like this


thats a great design and looks fabulous. Its faceplate is of course flat as well as backplate (thats in original message). All iPhones are covered by glass fully too. I wonder if it can be called a durable iPhone (with strong plastic, thats it). It reminds my iPhone 3GS which has been a great phone.
As for this baby, I can tell you that most folks will put on case anyway, so you can't even see if its 5 or 5s low cost or whatever. And imagine 5 colors available, that will be huge hit with youngsters and women (some like silver, blue or even pink!)
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that1guyy said:

What a horrible business decision. Looks like Tim Cook has no damn clue and is just trying to appeal to shareholders. Making cheap plastic crap is something I didn't expect Apple to to, ever. Like other people mentioned, there are the 4/4s if people want low cost. This plastic one is so unnecessary.

I am glad I don't hold Apple stock.

On a somewhat unrelated note, IOS7 better deliver or I think it's time to leave Apple.

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4/4s are outdated in terms of connector. For a budget solution you don't need expensive glass either, prefer more durable stronger plastic. Also, 4S is a sort of premium phone and not cheap. Its camera alone is as good as any modern PS camera and probably not cheap either.

I know some of you don't want to hear it, but a budget iPhone is coming. Why? Because there are customers who'll buy a budget iPhone and use it with a prepaid plan. Apple is currently selling their phones with a very high margin. Those that can afford it at this price are already customers. They need new customers. And they can get these customers by selling at a lower margin. It's Econ 101.

People don't seem to understand what low cost means. It doesn't mean low selling price, but low production price. The 4/4S are still fairly expensive to make in comparison to this new lowcost model. Apple wants to protect their profit margins, they can't raise their price much more, so they have to lower their costs.

carlos916 said:

Keep it up apple and ur going to lose customers to the new blackberry phone

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Blackberry Z10 is one of the ugliest phones I've seen in a while

I doubt this will happen, but if it does and has a retina display, if it's not going to disrupt 4/4S sales it'll have to be a lot cheaper - resulting in really dated internals.

daneoni said:

Am i the only one who thinks this is a waste of time? Isn't the 4S/4 more than sufficient for a low cost option?

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NO it isn't.

Problem is "perception". people who want a low cost iphone want a new low cost iPhone not a 2 year old (2 generations) ago iPhone. ALso, apple would have to keep making the iphone 4 / 4s with the expensive parts as opposed to making a cheap plastic one with lower cost parts. Even if they just cut out the glass back and metal band, they could save money on each phone.

Sellewiet said:

People don't seem to understand what low cost means. It doesn't mean low selling price, but low production price. The 4/4S are still fairly expensive to make in comparison to this new lowcost model. Apple wants to protect their profit margins, they can't raise their price much more, so they have to lower their costs.

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It's about the screen, they are creating a low cost option with the up to date screen size

Razeus said:

I don't understand this low cost thing. Isn't that what selling the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is for???

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The iPhone 4/4S are actually difficult to manufacture and I believe Apple has had enough of them returned within warranty with broken glass.

Apple wants to have a new model with the iPhone 5 ruggedness, iPhone 4S guts , iPhone 4 cost and iPhone 3GS ease of production.

If the problem is the screen size, durability, and connector, i personally think that launching the iPhone 5S will make the iPhone 5 the replacement of 4/4S as the new cheap iPhone = durable, 4" screen, and lightning connector + keeping the luxurious form factor.

The time has come for Apple to shake things up majorly. They have always claimed to build devices that exude quality not quantity. This might be partially true but we all know Apple wants to expand its market share greatly. A conservative company will not do well in the future. I think Apple should start to license iOS. Imagine the possibilities and impact this could have. Samsung can probably make a killer iOS phone. This may all be a dream, but it would be nice.

I don't think people want a cheaper iphone but rather the iphone to be cheaper.

gmanist1000 said:

Agreed. Not sure why this would be a good idea.

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This phone will NOT be available in the US to begin with (or at least not supposed to...) or other countries where regular iphone is successful

This low cost story should lead to a 200 usd price, twice as less as cheapest iphone available at the moment. Do not forget that telcos subsidies are not standard rule for every country, also subsidies will go down to zero with time as low cost carriers are coming and spreading like wildfire...

I can imagine this one will end up in the US sooner or later:
If you have a 199 usd budget and no replacement program available, will you go for low cost iphone or will you cash out 800 usd for regular one?

Meh...

This is very anti-Apple. A cheap phone is not Apple's MO. Apple is about providing the best possible user experience to their customers, regardless of cost. We have seen this time and time again. I'm not saying that it will never happen, but I am definitely a skeptic when it comes to Apple releasing products that Tim couldn't say, "Now isn't that beautiful?" Just my opinion!

The low cost iPhone...

I believe there will be a low cost iPhone anytime soon but not this stupid rumor. Couple months from now the iPhone 5 will be $99, the cheaper iPhone in the market when iPhone 5s comes out. Then when iPhone 6 comes out the iPhone 5 will be the free iPhone with 2 year contract. Does anybody around here wants their iPhone looks identical to the cheaper iPhone with the case on it? I might as well get the cheap plastic version and put a case on it since everything else are the same. Or maybe the iPhone 5s (16GB) price will go down to $150 and the iPhone 5 will be $50 with contract. The rest will be $199(32GB) $299(64GB) $399(128GB) that 128GB iPad or iPhone is badly needed for serious users.

that1guyy said:

What a horrible business decision. Looks like Tim Cook has no damn clue and is just trying to appeal to shareholders. Making cheap plastic crap is something I didn't expect Apple to to, ever. Like other people mentioned, there are the 4/4s if people want low cost. This plastic one is so unnecessary.

I am glad I don't hold Apple stock.

On a somewhat unrelated note, IOS7 better deliver or I think it's time to leave Apple.

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Okay but, the iPhone 3G and 3GS....

I don't see what the big deal is.

Traditionally Apple values thin, light, and small. Even if rather gimmicky, the mere presence of an Apple logo will insure these appeal to women & children.

Sad to see Apple spend their time on a trinket like this, but one never knows what the Cupertino Company is thinking.

One things for certain. Between all the pro Apple press & writers on the blogosphere, their will be plenty of demand no matter what these turn out like.

I don't know why this is so upsetting to people...Apple has "Pro" and "Mini" models of other products that are distinctly different from their corresponding counterpart, yet in the same category...why not have a "Pro" model of the iPhone to fill the same function?

That's basically what offering a low-cost iPhone would do. It would make the current iPhone a "Pro" model.

This has been mentioned once in this thread but needs to be mentioned again, I think: The low-cost iPhone is NOT for the United States. It's for emerging markets, where smart phone penetration is very low. Think Africa. Think S.E. Asia. It's possible to make a lot of money only selling a few products but ultimately, even Apple is subject to market saturation.

Here's a segment than ran on NPR that might help explain what I mean.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...ing-world-goes-mobile-can-apple-make-the-sale