Apple to test low-cost iPhone in small volumes – (unlikely) supply chain claim

Credit: Ferry Passchier for 9to5Mac

In what strikes us as one of the less-likely rumors about the low-cost iPhone, Digitimes is claiming that Apple plans to ship only 2.5-3m units in the first quarter, citing un-named supply chain sources.

Speculation currently circulating in the iPhone supply chain in Taiwan indicate that Apple plans to launch an inexpensive model targeting emerging markets with initial quarterly shipments of only 2.5-3.0 million units to test market response …

While the rest of the brief report merely echoes what is widely-expected – a plastic-cased phone using mostly existing innards – the low volume ‘test’ suggested is not really how Apple rolls. Apple does its homework carefully, and launches only those few products it expects to succeed. Apple sold 37.4m iPhones in the first quarter of the year.