AppleInsider Staff
Apple reportedly plans to build a more affordable iPhone model this August alongside launch a new world mode "iPhone 5S" featuring compatibility with China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world.
The details were reported on Friday by Chinese tech news site EMSOne (translation), which cited analysts from Barclays Capital. It claimed that a "cheap edition" of the iPhone will be built this year by both Foxconn, Apple's usual manufacturing partner, as well as Pegatron.
The report suggests that Foxconn will also be the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's next-generation "iPhone 5S." It was not indicated that Pegatron had received any orders for the company's next flagship handset.
Unlike the current iPhone 5, which requires different models for separate carriers with unique LTE frequencies, the so-called "iPhone 5S" is expected to be a world phone that will add compatibility with new carriers, including China Mobile.
That ability could be aided by Qualcomm's latest LTE chipset, which operates on 40 bands, including all existing LTE networks. China Mobile, which has nearly 700 million total subscribers, utilizes an obscure TD-SCDMA network that is incompatible with the current iPhone 5.
As for the cheaper iPhone, Friday's report claimed it will not be a world phone, and will only support the frequency division duplex (FDD) flavor of LTE. China Mobile's network uses time division duplexing (TDD) for its LTE network.
The report comes on the heels of a separate one out of Japan issued on Thursday, which claimed that Apple is planning to cut costs by building its next iPhone out of polycarbonate, similar to the company's retired white MacBook. It was said that Apple plans to charge around $330 without a service contract for its entry-level iPhone.
Christine McKee
Stephen Silver
Charles Martin
Amber Neely
34 Comments
Ahhh....another day, another cheap iPhone rumor. Eventually someone will be right because we have just about every month between now and the end of 2014.
I'm kind of hoping for mobile purchasing from the 5S
...Just for arguments sake, if Apple were to make a low end phone (and I sincerely doubt it) I couldn't see it being priced at anything less than $250; its sales would be pretty much limited to China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Indian sub-continent; and Apple might use some less expensive material but not plastic.
IF, IF, IF...this comes to pass, I think I nailed it last week.
Thread - Apple likely to debut $199 iPhone as low-cost smartphone market hits $135B in 2013 (February 20, 2013)
But I thought the cheaper plastic iPhone wasn't coming until 2014. Isn't that what we were told yesterday?
Ahhh....another day, another cheap iPhone rumor. Eventually someone will be right because we have just about every month between now and the end of 2014.
Why bother reading or commenting then?