Asian suppliers to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) have begun manufacturing a lower-priced version of its hot-selling iPhone 4 with a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The flash drive for the 8GB iPhone 4 is being manufactured by a Korean company, one of the people said on Tuesday, declining to name the company. Apple currently sources its flash drives from Japan’s Toshiba (6502.T) and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).
This rumor is most likely true, considering how stores have been blowing out stock of the 3GS lately. Apple COO Tim Cook has mentioned on several occasions the company’s desire to break into emerging markets, and a low- or no-cost iPhone (with contract, of course) could be the way to do that.
a 4G iphone is a way to break into my market. I wish there was a rumor about that…