(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)

How low can they go? That’s the question on at least one analyst’s mind when looking ahead to the next-generation iPhone that Apple is likely to unleash this June.

AppleInsider is reporting that Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty cites the cost of the hardware itself as the greatest barrier to wider iPhone adoption -- followed by the cost of the actual service plan. While Apple has done remarkably well thus far despite those hurdles, they continue to be a challenge both in developed markets such as the United States as well as emerging ones like China.

However, Huberty anticipates that Apple will address this issue head-on in June, when a new model of iPhone will be available that’s easier on the wallet than the current one.

“We expect Apple to launch new iPhones in June that offer both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology,” the analyst wrote in a new note to investors today.

She may have a point: Last year, at the same time as Apple took the wraps off the iPhone 3GS, they slashed the price of the previous 3G model to only $99. But even with the lower price point, customers still flocked to the more-powerful 3GS model.

Huberty is also bullish on Apple’s stock future in the near-term, thanks to the iPad’s forthcoming launch in late March. The analyst estimates that 6 million of the devices will ship in the 2010 calendar year, far more optimistic than the average Wall Street projections of only 3 to 4 million.

“We expect Apple to shop its first iPad and announce additional content deals in late March to better than expected demand,” the analyst writes. “We see the iPad targeting the sub-$800 consumer notebook market which equates to 30M annual units just in the U.S. (120M globally).”

AppleInsider is quick to note that Huberty has historically been “notoriously negative” on Apple stock -- suggesting that the iPhone was too expensive even at a $199 price point. The analyst even predicted that sales of the device would suffer because Apple had “priced the product too high” back in late 2008.

For whatever reason, Huberty switched gears last year and is now quite positive on everyone’s favorite tech company named after a fruit, going so far as to call Apple the “clear leader in the battle over the mobile Internet.”