In the past, rumors of a “smaller, cheaper” iPhone have never really inspired confidence, for me at least. Apple is a company well known for not creating “cheaper” anything. It boasts about the quality of its products, setting one standard in each department. Even the 13″ white MacBook can’t be counted as cheap when you compare it to low-end models made by other manufacturers.

This next rumor, however, has caught my attention. According to Christ Whitmore at Deutsche Bank, we could see an iPhone 4S and an iPhone 5. The theory behind this is that Apple is going after that “mid-range” sector currently dominated by Android. The iPhone 4S, as the name suggests, would be an iPhone 4 with a faster brain – presumably the A5 processor. This could be sold sim-free for around $349. Whitmore states: “With Nokia and RIMM struggling, the time is right for Apple to aggressively penetrate the mid range smart-phone market (i.e. $300-500 category) to dramatically expand its [total addressable market] and market share.”

In contrast, the iPhone 5 would be the company’s flagship device. There’s no new speculation about features on this “super-phone”, but I presume it would need to be vastly superior to justify the difference in price points. Perhaps a 4″ display to start with? What do you think about this? Could Apple launch a 4S and a 5 simultaneously?

Via: Fortune