Low Cost iPhone to be called iPhone Mini

We have all heard the talk, and possibly even participated in some of it ourselves, about the budget iPhone. We’ve seen leaked images, of its low-cost plastic casing, in a multitude of different colors. We’ve even seen images that are apparently a completely assembled display module and some that show the fittings for a dual LED flash.  What we haven’t seen, or heard, is anything from Apple about it.

This is quite normal for the Cupertino Company – they tend to  stay pretty quiet about their new devices until they are ready to release them.  However, a document has been seen, an OLED Forecast Investment Plan and, for the first time ever, the budget iPhone appears to be in print. It’s named in the document as the iPhone Mini.

We don’t know very much in the way of fact about the budget iPhone, only what the analysts and rumor-mongers tell us.  We do know that it will be made of a cheaper poly-carbonate shell. Other specs that we think might be present are:

• 4” standard LCD display
• 1136 x 640 resolution – 326ppi
• A7 processor
• 1.2GHz Quad Core CPU
• 2GB RAM
• PowerVR SGX 554MP4 GPU
• 12 megapixel rear camera
• Duel LED Flash

We have not even been given any clues about a time frame for release although current rumors say the budget iPhone is in full production at the moment. This seems to be backed up by the images that we have seen as well.  The price tag will apparently be somewhere between $300and $400 SIM free and its thought that the handset is going to be aimed initially at the emerging markets in India and China. These countries are not too big on contracts and find that the cost of purchasing an iPhone SIM free is extremely prohibitive. However, these are the countries that Apple needs to court because, right now, most phone sales are for the cheaper Android handsets and, if Apple wants a slice of that particular pie, this is where they need to be focusing their efforts.

It’s widely believed that the iPhone Mini will be launched in September or October, around the same time as the new iOS 7 firmware. We’ll keep our finger on the pulse and pass on the news as it happens.

Source : OLEDDisplay.net