Looks like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is working on a new iPhone model that will be priced around $200 when it is sold off-contract — an extension of the model it has applied to its iPod music players and MacBook computers to offer products with a wider range of prices to extend its reach in the market. The idea of offering a smaller and cheaper iPhone is a sign of how the smartphone market is maturing, and how Apple could possibly hope to compete with the onslaught of Android devices being sold at a range of prices, some for less than $100.
Bloomberg, which first reported the news, says that the new devices will be one-third smaller than the current iPhone 4 but will be built using several of the same internal components as that model.
The phone will be less expensive because the price of those components, which include the processor and display, are getting cheaper over time. In the meantime, Apple will be looking for faster and more advanced components for its top-of-the-line iPhones.
Other features that may figure in these new models, says the report, will be devices fit with “universal SIMs” — also known as soft SIMs — which let users chose carriers through the phone’s software, and not through physical SIM cards. The phones may also be shipped as dual-mode, meaning they would be able to work on both GSM-based and CDMA-based networks.
The cheap devices are expected to come out mid-year — although the article pointed out that this plan could get delayed or cancelled altogether.
A cheaper iPhone is something that people have long been mulling, using products like the iPod Nano, and the MacBook Air as templates for the kinds of devices that Apple might consider for its phone range. This is one of the first times, though, that there have been reports of such models actually being prototyped, and given possible shipping dates.
Apple has been growing its market share since launching its first iPhone in 2007, but that growth has been slowing down, partly because of the introduction of a flood of popular and less-expensive Android devices.
Offering the iPhone on CDMA networks — something that Apple has now started to do with its introduction of the iPhone with Verizon this week — is one way of extending the product’s reach; and offering a lighter version of the device is definitely another.
Coincidentally, the reports surfaced just one day after HP debuted its two newest smartphones: the Pre3 and the credit-card-sized Veer.
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