Apple is months away from announcing the iPhone 5S or budget iPhone — what's being called 'the iPhone mini' — but an artist has created concept drawings based on the various rumors swirling around the new devices' availability in different colors.
Martin Hajek's designs were commissioned by Dutch website iPhoneclub and show the iPhone mini in several different colors and made of cheaper materials. Hajek used turquoise and red as examples.
"Working with rumours floating on the internet and the input from iPhoneclub I visualized what Apple's cheaper offering might look like," Hajek wrote.
Apple hasn't made any official announcement concerning either iPhone 5S or the budget iPhone, but now we can at least have an idea what they may look like. Hajek produced concept images for 4-inch and 4.5-inch budget iPhone designs; as rumors have it the device will come in both sizes.
The budget iPhone will have a super-thin plastic casing mixed with glass fiber, according to AppleInsider, and the material will make it stronger, thinner and lighter than typical smartphone plastic casings. The phone will be between 0.4 and 0.6 millimeters wide, which is thinner than the average plastic casing at between 0.7 and 1 millimeter.
Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who has a reliable track record in predicting Apple's future product plans, according to AppleInsider, said the budget iPhone will be available in four to six colors. iPhone 5S and the budget iPhone could be announced in June, AppAdvice says.
The low-cost iPhone was expected to launch in the spring, as iTechPost previously reported, but now it is expected to release between July and September. The cause for the delay is said to be that Apple's suppliers are having problems with manufacturing the new casing colors for the budget iPhone. The price of the low-cost iPhone will be between $350 and $450, which seems to indicate unsubsidized pricing. The low-cost iPhone is expected to be offered at a much lower price when signing a contract with a mobile carrier.
