Apple To Release Cheap iPhone?
For nearly six years, Apple’s sold just one line of iPhones. The strategy serves the Cupertino, Calif.-based company well. By some measures, the pricey, wildly popular smartphone — the iPhone 5 starts at $199 and prices vary depending on storage size — generates more cash than the entirety of Microsoft’s product line.
Now, under pressure from cheaper Android devices, Apple’s looking to attract new customers turned off by high prices. According to one of the most trusted Apple reporters in the U.S., the smartphone maker is set to introduce a second, cheaper line of iPhones.
After speaking to “people briefed on the matter,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica E. Lessin reports that a less expensive Apple smartphone, made with a plastic shell instead of the iPhone 5’s aluminum casing, would be available by the end of 2013.
