Apple to launch low-priced iPhone for $350, iPhone 4S/5 end of summer
We know these next-generation iPhone rumors have been out of control (aren't they every year right before a new iPhone is slated to be released?), but we just received some new information from an incredibly solid source of ours.
Context & Ripple Effects
BGR's $350 claim lands three weeks after Fortune reported Apple was building two iPhones for a September release, and it puts a number on that second device: not a successor, but a cheaper sibling aimed below the flagship's price floor. The same reporting ties the cheap model to a rumored push onto China Mobile, China's largest carrier — a market where unsubsidized flagship pricing has kept the iPhone out of most buyers' reach.
The story also illustrates its own media environment: PC Magazine's same-day response, 'Stop the iPhone 5 Rumor Insanity,' treats the annual pre-launch rumor flood as the real story, so this claim should be read as sourced speculation, not confirmation — both the $350 price and the end-of-summer timing are flagged as unconfirmed.
First-order effects
- If the $350 device ships, Apple for the first time fields a two-tier iPhone lineup, competing directly in the mid-market where Android handsets currently own the unsubsidized price points.
- An end-of-summer launch window sets the clock for carriers and retailers, whose fall inventory and holiday-quarter planning now hinge on two iPhone models instead of one.
Second-order effects
- Android handset makers would face Apple attacking their strongest territory — the $300–400 range — forcing them to differentiate on specs and carrier deals rather than price alone.
- A China Mobile-compatible, cheaper iPhone would give Apple a path into hundreds of millions of subscribers on the country's dominant carrier, reshaping where the next wave of iPhone unit growth comes from.
Third-order effects
- A persistent low-cost tier would mark a structural break from Apple's single-flagship cadence, turning the iPhone from one product refreshed yearly into a family segmented by price — with knock-on questions about how far downmarket Apple is willing to stretch margins and brand.
- Carrier-level expansion in China, if the rumored deal matures, would make emerging-market distribution — not just US upgrade cycles — a primary driver of Apple's hardware volumes.
The trend: The iPhone line appears headed from a single yearly flagship toward a multi-price portfolio, with emerging-market carriers like China Mobile as the strategic pull behind a cheaper model.