Apple is working on a “lower end” model of the iPhone in response to its declining position in the global smartphone market, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal cites “people briefed on the matter” as saying that a cheaper version of the iPhone, often dubbed the “iPhone Mini”, could launch later this year.
Apple is known to have explored the launch of a less expensive iPhone for several years, but the Journal‘s sources say that the plans are now “progressing”.
They claim that the iPhone Mini could resemble a standard iPhone in design, but with a different and less expensive body.
For example, Apple could lower production costs for the device by using a different shell, such as polycarbonate plastic rather than the aluminium body in the iPhone 5.
Other parts could remain the same, or be “recycled from older iPhone models”, said the Journal‘s sources.
h/t Digital Spy
