Cheaper Entry-Level iPhone Could Feature A Plastic Chassis

The Proposed ‘Cheaper iPhone’ Could Feature A Plastic Chassis

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Jaden Ellett|Jump To Comments |

The month of January has so far been the month of the cheaper iPhone. We have heard from various media publications such as DigiTimes, The Wall Street Journal and even Bloomberg that Apple has plans to release a cheaper entry-level iPhone sometime in 2013.

Just how Apple plans to make the iPhone cheaper is not yet known, but one way it could accomplish this task is by replacing the metal unibody with a plastic one. According to a new report from DigiTimes, this is exactly what the fruit company plans on doing.

Apple’s rumored entry-level iPhone reportedly may adopt plastic for its chassis instead of reinforced glass or unibody metal as in the company’s standard iPhone models, to save cost, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

To me Apple releasing a plastic iPhone seems like a bad idea as they are a company built on quality, not mass quantity like Samsung. With all these rumors about a cheaper iPhone however, it definitely makes you wonder what Apple has up its sleeve.

Evolution-Of-The-iPhone

Apparently a full plastic chassis has not been officially confirmed though as there are other rumors are circulating that the entry-level iPhone will adopt a chassis mixed with plastic and metal, with the internal metal parts being able to be seen from outside through special design.

As for the actual release date of the cheaper entry-level iPhone, it was reported that it could show up in the second half of 2013. What do you think? Will Apple actually release such a handset? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Manuel

“Cheap” and “Apple” is a contradiction. Those are opposite words.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Losh-Loshan/100000432789997 Losh Loshan

Phil Schiller already said they will not be mass producing a lower quality iPhone as Apple is a company who produce QUALITY, NOT cheap stuff.
Ted Forbes

No, but Apple will produce HQ phones everyone can afford or something like that. They would not use the words low-cost or cheap these words like this is not Apple like. The 3Gs was a great phone and still is! So then Apple could modify the design, make it thinner, lighter or something. That will do. That would be a new phone. Who would care otherwise?
http://www.facebook.com/jeroenwoltjes1 Jeroen Woltjes

As mentioned before, it wouldn’t be released as cheap or low costs, as this will go in contradiction with apple’s brand image. I will also state, that rumors remain rumors, and without any evidence or any credible sources, I advise not to jump ahead.
What is a fact, however, is that samsung took a great market piece because of the cheaper devices. If apple would want to tap into this market, it would have to realease a new device with a lower retail price.
I remember something about the production price of the iphone 4 to be around 50 dollars or so, including labor costs. As this phone retails for around 400 dollars, there is a lot of profit in here. Of course not all of the profit of a device is all profit, as it has to cover marketing etcetera.
However, I still believe there is made a lot of profit of one phone.
Apple has made a few bucks in the last decade, and i think it would be profitable to retail a new device, with some lower production costs (without compromising the quality) and retail them with a lower price. This would open the iphone to a broader audience, which will result in a higher sales rate, which in my opinion, would make up the loss in retail price.

Ah well, this is just my 2 cents.

The Proposed ‘Cheaper iPhone’ Could Feature A Plastic Chassis

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