BS Alert - iPhone Rumor of the Day 1/10 - Phil Schiller Says 'Never' to Cheapo iPhone

Related: Apple, iPhone 6, iPhone Mini

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We've been calling 'BS' here all week since rumors started surfacing on sources ranging from DigiTimes to Bloomberg News about Apple working on a new, cheaper line of $99 to $149 iPhones. It never made sense to US because they already achieve this via price-cuts to older models like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS that are still being offered, virtually free.

Well, it turns out that Apple's Phil Schiller agrees with us, telling a Japanese paper that "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%, we own the 75% of the profit."

Duh alert over... Onto the next rumor?

Yesterday, Bloomberg news has jumped on the bandwagon as well, noting that "the budget iPhone will launch "as soon as this year," according to sources familiar which Apple's plans who chose not to be named. The device will be part of a push to attract customers in developing nations, but will also be made available in the U.S. and other developed markets. Apple is said to be "weighing retail prices of $99 to $149 for a device that would debut in late 2013, at the earliest," Bloomberg reports, and the company has already "spoken to at least one of the top U.S. wireless carriers about its plans.""

Apple most recently announced on December 17th that it has sold over two million of its new iPhone 5 in China, just three days after its launch on December 14. iPhone 5 was made available in more than 100 countries by the end of December, making it the fastest iPhone rollout ever.

"Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products."

iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*-all while delivering even better battery life.** iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features including: Shared Photo Streams, all-new Maps app, Passbook organization and even more Siri features and languages including Mandarin.