For all the rumors we’ve heard about the possibility of Apple releasing a new iPhone model later this year that’s specifically designed to be a very low-cost model for developing markets, very little has been said about just what changes Apple might make to drive the price down. Sure, we heard that a plastic construction was one option, saving on materials and fabrication expenses related to working with glass or metal, but what about the guts of the phone – the silicon? A new analyst report champions the idea that Apple could turn to Qualcomm for this new iPhone’s chips, and build the handset around a Snapdragon SoC.
The theory seems to go that Apple would specifically intend for this model to be underpowered compared to its flagship iPhone, and so might look to a lower-end Snapdragon. That could also bring savings to Apple’s manufacturing costs by having this one chip take the place of several discrete components.
Such a move would mark a big shift in how Apple builds its handsets, but that sounds exactly like what it’s trying to do with this project, rather than just sell an older-generation iPhone at a lower price.
