Following up on their earlier reports about the cheaper iPhone, iLounge’s Jeremy Horowitz has followed up with details about what the rumored “budget” iPhone would look like: basically, just like an iPhone 5, but with a largely plastic casing and the rounded corners of an iPod classic.
While previous theories have suggested that if Apple were to break into the low-end, they would do it with a Lightning-updated version of the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, Horowitz says his sources have told him that the budget iPhone would look very similar to the iPhone 5 from the front, with all the big changes in appearance in the trunk.
Says iLounge:
From the front, the new iPhone looks almost identical to the iPhone 5—the same exact shape, with the same sensor, camera, and button arrangement. The 1136 x 640 screen isn’t a surprise, but will be a nice step up in specs for the lowest-cost iPhone. Rather than making the display flush with the enclosure, as it was in the plastic iPhone 3G/3GS, the front glass sticks out a little, just as it does with the iPhone 5 and iPod touch. Despite the shift to plastic for the rest of the enclosure, our sources believe that Apple will continue to use Gorilla Glass for this model’s screen.
Differences become more obvious when the new iPhone is turned on the side. The circular volume buttons of the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 will shift to elongated, pill-shaped designs closer to the iPod touch and iPhone 3G/3GS.
In addition, the iPhone 5 will apparently have rounded corners, similar to the iPod classic’s, although not the brushed metal backing that media player is known for. All together, iLounge says it will look like “an iPhone 5 from the front, an iPod classic from the side, and an iPod touch 5G on the bottom.”
This is an intriguing report if true. Most of the growth in the smartphone market at this point is in emerging markets.
Source: iLounge
