Apple may unveil early next month an inexpensive iPhone that could “drastically expand” the tech giant’s smartphone market – along with providing a huge 50 percent margin. The iPhone 4s, described as an iPod touch with a cellular antenna, could sell for $300, yet cost just $150 to build, claims one Wall Street analyst Monday.
Although Apple hasn’t commented on its plans, Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore writes the iPhone 4S would be Apple’s entry into the profitable prepaid market, giving the Cupertino, Calif. company access to 1 billion additional customers. He expects the device to follow the footprint of an 8GB iPod touch, which as a 38 percent margin.
Whitmore also writes Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone, often referred to as the “iPhone 5”, will include aluminum unibody construction, replacing the iPhone 4’s glass, plus offer a larger screen and better camera. The unibody construction could reduce the new handset’s weight while the larger screen would fit a growing trend by smartphone makers.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
