Apple's senior exec rules out 'cheap' iPhone

PanARMENIAN.Net - Apple's senior executive Phil Schiller has seemingly ruled out the firm launching a 'cheap' version of the iPhone, despite growing speculation of a shift in strategy for Apple's most valuable product, according to Digital Spy.

Earlier in the week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple's rumoured plans for a "lower-end" iPhone were accelerating and the handset, often dubbed the "iPhone Mini", could launch later this year.

The report said that Apple is concerned about losing smartphone market share to big rival Samsung, which offers a much broader range of handsets with different technical specs and price points.

But in an interview in China with Shanghai Evening News, Schiller appeared to pour cold water on the speculation.

Apple's head of worldwide marketing was quoted as saying that "despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products". Schiller suggested that Apple would stick with its previous policy of offering only premium products with premium price tags.

Some commentators have pointed to Apple's declining share of the worldwide smartphone market, and the rise of Samsung, as evidence that a change in strategy is required for the iPhone.

"Although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20%," he told the paper, "we own 75% of the profit."

Despite Schiller's seeming denials of the iPhone Mini plans, it is worth reading between the lines of what he said. The Apple veteran merely ruled out producing a "cheap smartphone", and Apple could still produce a lower-end iPhone that would not be considered "cheap" in the conventional sense, Digital Spy said.