Apple To Release Mid-Range Priced iPhone?

Analyst Chris Whitmore with Deutsche Bank seems to think that it’s about time that Apple released a mid-range priced iPhone, which would be aimed at pre-paid customers in mind, with the device ranging between $300-$500. His reasoning is that in a mobile population of 1.5 billion, two thirds are pre-paid, and with Apple only shipping 87 million in the past two years, they’re only reaching out to 6% of a possible customer base. This was probably fueled by the rumors that there would be two iPhones released this year – an iPhone 4S which is a budget iPhone, and a brand new featured packed iPhone 5, aimed for regular customers.

The rumors had initially started by some who claimed that there would be no new iPhone 5, but rather an iPhone 4S, which would merely be a rehash of the iPhone 4 with some newer features like a better camera. Later on the rumor went 180, and people started speculating and reporting that there would be a brand new iPhone 5 instead, with a new body design among other new features. Now it looks like the rumors are saying there will be two iPhones instead.

We can’t really say for sure which is true, but Apple has been known to price their products at a rather expensive price, such as their computers for example, because to them, they were selling a lifestyle/image rather than a computer, which doesn’t make sense for them to suddenly want to branch out to the masses. However the iPhone has been their best selling product to date, which means they may want to capitalize on its popularity further by reaching out to a wider and more diverse audience. Either way, a lot of the rumors are pointing at a fall release, so I guess we will have to wait until then.