Cupertino firm falls victim to rumour again, with low end device expected for late 2013.
The iPad Mini was once a product of conjecture, though soon became very real, with Apple launching the 7.9-inch tablet to appease consumers on a lower budget while competing with the likes of Amazon's Kindle Fire line.
Apple is now thought to be working on a low end iPhone, which is expected to be priced at between $99 to $149, according toBloomberg. Cheaper components like plastic are thought to be used in order to achieve the price cut, rather than costly metal and glass materials.
The move would see the firm branch away from its traditional $500+ handsets, while the entry-level device could be released in late 2013, which has become the usual time Apple chooses to launch new products.
The Cupertino firm has been accused of lacking innovation since the passing of Steve Jobs, but the company still sold 5m handsets in its debut weekend and shifted more than two million in the same period when the device hit China.
Meanwhile, the Apple App Store crossed 40bn downloads and 500m active user accounts this week, while paying iOS developers more than $7bn.