iPhone 5S Rumors: Low-Cost Model Shot Down by Phil Schiller

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 11, 2013

Some of the latest iPhone 5S rumors have pointed to Apple releasing a low cost version of the smartphone in order to gain market share in places such as India and China.

However, Apple's chief of marketing, Phil Schiller, appears to have shot down the possibility of a low cost iPhone coming out in a recent interview with a Chinese publication.

"Every product that Apple creates, we consider using only the best technology available. This includes the production pipeline, the Retina display, the unibody design, to provide the best product to the market," he said to Chinese interviewer Huang Yinlong.

"At first, non-smartphones were popular in the Chinese market, now cheap smartphones are more popular and non-smartphones are out," Schiller added. "Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products. In fact, although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20 percent, we own 75 percent of the profit."

Schiller's comments basically state that Apple will not sacrifice quality in order to make a profit. Apple also likes to create its own lanes in the market. One example of this would be the iPad Mini.

Throughout the course of 2012, various companies such as Samsung, Google, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble released low-cost, low-end 7-inch tablets with prices in between $199-$249. Apple saw potential in this market and began crafting the iPad Mini.

However, when the smaller iPad finally saw the light of day towards the end of 2012, its price was significantly higher than the competition at $329 and it came with a screen that was slightly bigger than 7 inches.

Even though many analysts expected Apple to launch something for $249, the company threw a curveball and once again created its own lane.