Report shares new details on Apple’s rumored low-cost iPhone with tapered plastic edges

Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge, who just recently claimed to have details on the upcoming iPad 5 and iPhone lineup, today shared additional details on Apple’s rumored low-cost iPhone. According to the report, reliable sources have confirmed that the device will be made “substantially from plastic.” Horwitz said the new budget iPhone will look almost identical to the iPhone 5 from the front, with a 4-inch, 1,136-by-640 display, but it will also include a curved design that blends elements of the iPod touch and iPod classic:

No, it won’t just be a Retina- and Lightning-equipped refresh of the iPhone 3G or 3GS, Apple’s last plastic iPhones, nor will it look just like an all-plastic version of the iPhone 5. This new model is actually a cross between the iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod touch, and… wait for it… the iPod classic. Yes, really. It will have a 4” screen, like the iPhone 5, a bottom like the latest iPod touch, and a shape that’s most similar to the iPod classic.

While the report claimed the device would look almost identical to the iPhone 5 from the front, it will also slightly increase in size. Horwitz said the low-cost iPhone will be “a half-millimeter taller and a half-millimeter wider—nearly imperceptible differences—as well as almost a millimeter thicker” than the current iPhone 5.

On the back of the device, rather than the fully curved design of the plastic iPhone 3G and 3GS, the report described a device with curves similar to the iPod classic (as highlighted in the image above). Horwitz continued with details on the positioning of the budget iPhone’s Lightning connector, headphone port, camera, and speakers:

On the back are a camera, microphone, and rear flash similar in proportions to the fifth-generation iPod touch, only without the protruding rear lens, and with a circular rather than pill-shaped microphone hole. The bottom is a hybrid of the iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5G. A headphone port, Lightning port, bottom microphone, and speaker are in roughly the same positions as the iPhone 5’s, but with far fewer holes, similar to the new iPod touch’s bottom design. There’s one small hole for a second microphone, next to the headphone port, two screw holes alongside the centered Lightning port, and four holes for the speaker off to the bottom right.

Earlier this month, Horwitz claimed to have details on Apple’s upcoming iPad 5 and said the device will include an iPad mini-like design and launch in October. He also said the iPhone 5S was planned for a 2013 release with a larger rear flash.