The rumor mill is abuzz with iPhone fodder this week, but it’s not all about the iPhone 5 as you might expect. Reuters is claiming that a cheaper 8GB model of the iPhone 4 will be arriving in late September in an effort for Apple to capture the hearts and minds of the more thrift-conscious among us.
Reuters is reporting that Asian suppliers are already manufacturing a cheaper version of the current iPhone 4 -- a rumor that’s popped up on the radar a few times before in recent months. According to “two people with knowledge of the matter,” the low-cost iPhone 4 will come packing a mere 8GB of storage, which lends some credence to recent speculation about an iCloud-based handset.
"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."
In what is sure to raise the blood pressure of AllThingsD scribe Kara Swisher, Reuters is also claiming that the cheaper iPhone 4 will arrive alongside the iPhone 5, with both expected to launch at the end of September, rather than Swisher’s recent insistence of early October.
Reuters reports that Apple’s two Asian manufacturers Hon Hai and Pegatron “have been told to prepare production capacity for up to 45 million units altogether” -- more than double the company’s recent second quarter sales of 20.34 million units, and the company has set their sights on the lucrative Chinese market, where many of those units are likely to be sold.
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