Apple is set to offer a $350 budget iPhone without contract, in addition to a fifth-generation device by the end of this summer, according to “an incredibly solid source” for Boy Genius Report. But neither device is likely to surprise us with its design.
That budget iPhone may not be the smaller ‘iPhone nano‘ device we’ve been hearing about, however. According to Boy Genius Report’s source, Apple will continue to sell the iPhone 3GS for just $350 without contract. And if that hasn’t already crushed your hopes and dreams for a whole new iPhone lineup this year, the fifth-generation iPhone probably won’t feature a redesign either.
BGR’s source says Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone, whether it’s the ‘iPhone 4S’ or the ‘iPhone 5’, will be “at least announced by the end of Summer, late August-ish,” and will likely feature the same design as the iPhone 4. They suggest that if a redesign was on the cards, we’d have seen third-party case leaks by now, just like those that circulated before the release of the iPad 2.
However, Apple has reportedly been cracking down on case manufacturers since the iPad 2 design was leaked.
So, what will happen to the iPhone 4? Well, apparently Apple will continue to offer this as well — finally allowing the company to offer “a full range of devices in the lower, mid, and high-end price segments.”
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
7 responses to “Budget $350 iPhone Will Be Available By End of Summer… Along With iPhone 4S [Rumor]”
Wow! I’m looking forward to the next instalment of the iPhone as much as the next apple fan, but I’m going to go insane before it’s launch if I read many more of these ‘stories’.
Because Facetime seems to me to be a strategic product for Apple – it’s much more than a video chat service – I can’t see them launching ANY phone that doesn’t at least have a front facing camera. That would rule out the 3GS as the entry level device, surely?
Wouldn’t you expect at least a minor redesign to attenuate the antenna issues in iPhone 4?
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5