iPhone 5C: Is Apple prepping a budget smartphone for a fall launch?

Apple iPhone 5C rumors seems to have reached a critical mass. Several analysts now predict the unveiling of a $300 (or less) iPhone 5C on Sept. 10. But Apple has not confirmed.

|
Reuters
A man is silhouetted against a video screen with an Apple logo as he poses with an Apple iPhone 4 smartphone in this file photo illustration.

Apple is reportedly working on a budget handset called the iPhone 5C, which will retail for far less than the flagship device. 

Before we go any further, it may be worth noting that these kinds of rumors have been swirling for years, with little result. (Consider that way back in the fall of 2011, analysts were eagerly hashing over the impact a cheaper iPhone might have on the China market.) The reason is simple: the iPhone has always been positioned as a luxury device, and Apple has historically seemed unwilling to dilute the brand with a stripped-down smartphone. 

But the Cupertino company may finally have changed its mind. According to Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, this fall Apple will release the much-anticipated Apple iPhone 5S, as well as the Apple iPhone 5C, a device that would "exclude some software features, such as Siri" in an effort to keep down costs. Munster puts the unsubsidized price of the iPhone 5C at $300 – so perhaps as little as $100 with a two-year contract. 

Apple isn't commenting, and again, take a look at the monster caveat above: We've heard these rumors before. 

Not deterred? Then you may be interested in some speculation on the iPhone 5C spec list. Will it run the same hardware as the iPhone 4S? The iPhone 4? Well, over at Gizmodo, Eric Limer has a couple guesses

"Chances are iPhone 5c will be filled with repurposed guts from the iPhone 4S," Limer writes. "That should mean 8MP cameras and the same Samsung-made A5 chips that live inside the similarly colorful iPod touches. And, of course, a fancy new lightning port. It's probably not much different than how the iPad mini brought new use to aging iPad 2 innards." 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to iPhone 5C: Is Apple prepping a budget smartphone for a fall launch?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0815/iPhone-5C-Is-Apple-prepping-a-budget-smartphone-for-a-fall-launch
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe