Forget the iPhone 5, Apple is reportedly working on a smaller, more inexpensive version of the iPhone smartphone. Apple's move is reportedly in response to the growing momentum of Google Android smartphones and devices, with the company wishing to lower prices on the iPhone in order to widen its appeal in cost-sensitive markets.
This scoop comes from a Bloomberg report and its unnamed Apple source who claims to have seen the smaller iPhone mini prototype firsthand. The source's report describes the iPhone mini to be about two-third the size of the iPhone 4 and lacking the Home button.
The Apple source revealed that the company initially wanted to reveal the smaller, inexpensive iPhone mini in mid-2011 and that very few Apple employees know about the iPhone mini's existence.
The iPhone mini version will reportedly be priced at US $200, according to Bloomberg's Apple source -- just over Rs. 9,000 currently. This is a far cry from an officially unlocked iPhone 4 costing upwards of Rs. 35,000 in India, currently.
If true, the iPhone mini will make a severe dent in the industry, least of all stem the growing tide of Google Android smartphone adoption. A cheaper, smaller iPhone is no doubt aimed at price-sensitive markets like India and China -- two of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world -- with a mass buying tradition of low-priced handsets.
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