Earlier this week, a report surfaced claiming that Apple is currently working on a more affordable model of its iPhone 4, which is set to launch alongside the iPhone 5 later this year. The device will reportedly be aimed at those looking to purchase an iPhone with a tight budget, and will have just 8GB of storage in order to keep costs down.

This got us thinking: how would Apple bring down the price of an iPhone 4 to appeal to low-cost subscribers? How exactly would they make an iPhone 4 that would cost $50 or so with a two year contract? We’ve been speaking to Miroslav Djuric of iFixit — a popular online repair shop that produces how-to repair guides and tear-downs — to try and find out, and we think we know how Apple would do it. Here’s how.

Rumors that Apple will sell its upcoming iPhone 5 through Sprint is just the next step in what one analyst views as a tactic the tech giant can use to grow iPhone and iPad sales.

Samsung had used the Netherlands as a loophole against an EU-wide ban on its products. That option is now closed after a Netherlands court rules the Korean company’s smartphones violate Apple patents. The decision could tie a knot in Samsung’s distribution chain, the latest win for the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker.

This concept video by San Francisco design house Aatma Studios starts off pretty well: they envision future iPhones and iPads using a combination of a built-in pico projector and IR sensors to project a light-based keyboard on a flat surface. Just type on that projected keyboard as you would on any other and the iPhone will register your keystrokes.

Score a huge, huge win for Apple in its IP fight with Samsung: a Dutch court has just granted Apple a preliminary injunction preventing the Samsung Galaxy series of smartphones from being sold in Europe, effective on October 13th.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 alongside a cheaper, possibly retooled iPhone 4 in the coming months, with industry reports indicating a September or October launch.

According to Apple’s manufacturing partners overseas, Apple is drastically ramping up iPhone production for the second half of 2011, with an estimated 58 million units expected to ship. With the continued sales of iPhone 4 models alongside whatever is announced this Fall, it looks like the last two business quarters of 2011 will be record-breaking for Apple.

Further information surrounding that rumored ‘budget iPhone’ continues to surface as we approach the launch of the fifth-generation device, and according to two sources for Reuters, it could be in the form of a cheaper 8GB iPhone 4. Surely that gets your mouth watering?

Open up the App Store on your iPhone and you’ll find a plethora of apps that introduce augmented reality to your iPhone, but for now, that’s the only way you can get it. Apple is yet to make augmented reality a native feature, but a recently discovered patent application suggests the technology could one day appear in the built-in Maps app for iOS.

This week, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer took part in a conference call hosted by Gleacher & Company, an investment firm. No surprises here: someone asked Oppenheimer what Apple thought of the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google.

Oppenheimer’s response? Classically understated. “$12.5 billion is a lot of money.”

You should probably read “too much money” into that statement for Apple’s snide opinion on the matter.

Following recent issues with iPad displays from LG Display, which has forced the company to turn to rival Samsung, Apple is said to be considering a $1 billion investment in Sharp to secure touch screens for the iPhone and iPad.