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Dual iPhone 5 & iPhone 4S Release Rumor Reemerges on Reuters

The Reuters newswire filed an exclusive report today claiming that Apple is indeed working on both an iPhone 5 and lesser-priced iPhone 4 with just 8GB of memory. 
It’s one thing for speculative blogs like the iPhone 5 News Blog, or even top tier tech news websites like 9to5Mac or Gizmodo to break news about the iPhone 5. It’s something else entirely when one of the official news wires actually does it. Reuters, after all, covers the new of the world. They’re following all of the Presidents and world leaders that matter. They’re in Libya. They’re in Iraq. They’re in Afghanistan.
They’re . . . reporting a rumor that’s a couple of months old?
Today, Reuters is lighting up the news wire with an exclusive report that Apple is in fact working on two versions of the iPhone. According to the report: “Asian suppliers to Apple Inc 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,” which will purportedly join the iPhone 5 in Apple’s first-ever co-release of iPhones — ostensibly within the same month, or at least within weeks of one another.
While Reuters doesn’t characterize how the announcement and release of this oft-discussed “iPhone 4S” might look like, it is possible that its announcement could be similar to that of the white iPhone 4, which was announced in the Spring of 2011, but didn’t receive the fanfare of a full-throated iPhone announcement.
The Reuters article reports that the motivation behind the iPhone 4s  is so that “the cheaper 8GB iPhone 4 could help Apple boost sales in emerging markets,” a notion that has been bandied about the iPhone 5 rumor mill for months now.
If the Reuters sources are accurate, this purported 8GB iPhone 4S could corroborate a similar claim that an anonymous source at the iPhone 5 News Blog has said about the next iPhone — that it would retain the iPhone 4′s form factor and be called the “iPhone 4Gs.” It is possible that our source’s information comes from staffers who have seen components for the lower-priced iPhone 4s cited in today’s news, which could ostensibly accompany an overhauled iPhone 5 later in September or early October.
For as much as the Reuters report may lend a hefty helping of credibility to the el cheap-o iPhone rumor, it may also be nothing more than the mainstream media trying to catch up to what has already been discussed and considered in the iPhone community over the past months. The iPhone 5 News Blog has posted numerous articles about the prospect of a cheaper version iPhone — and nothing in Reuters article today offers anything new to that rumor.
Here’s a timeline of some of the Blog’s articles that pertain directly to this rumor:
August 8th – “iCloud iPhone” Rumor Could Cost $0, But Do The Numbers Really Add Up?
August 3rd – With the New China Telecom Rumor, The iPhone 5 May Be Accompanied by an Affordable Alternative
July 14th – What If The Rumored “iPhone Lite” Counterpart to the iPhone 5 Is A 3G iPod touch?
June 25th – iPhone 5 “Lite” Rumor Suggests Confusing, Complicated Choices For iPhone Users
May 3rd – Rumors of Two iPhone 5 Models Could Satisfy Geeks & Average Joes Alike
When you consider the fact that tech pundits have been discussing the notion of this lesser-priced iPhone rumor for months now — and have claimed anonymous sources just as Reuters has in its latest report — it’s hard not to see Reuters‘ late-breaking piece as just plain late.
Where Does an 8GB iPhone 4s Fit Into the Other iPhone Offerings?
Assuming for the sake of argument that the Reuters report is true, and that it confirms a lesser-priced iPhone 4s, where would an 8GB iPhone fit into the current and future ranks of iPhones?
First off, an 8GB iPhone 4s probably won’t be called “iPhone 4s,” since, in the past, iPhone taxonomy indicates that the “s” stands for “speed.” Since Reuters characterizes this el cheap-o iPhone 4 as nothing more than an 8GB version of what is currently offered, there would be nothing “speedy” about it; it will be simply an “8GB iPhone 4.”
Second, doesn’t it seem odd that Apple would offer a “new” iPhone 4 model with only 8GB that would cost less than the soon-to-be old 16 and 32GB iPhone 4 models, which in turn will be reduced once the iPhone 5 is released? How can Apple release a new iPhone model that uses essentially all of the same components as the other iPhone 4 models — just with a smaller capacity flash drive — and make that cost considerably less than the 16 and 32GB models, which are due to be considerably reduced in price? The consumer confusion over such a move would seemingly prove to be more costly than any windfall that could come from the new device.
Would it not make more sense for Apple to have kept the iPhone 3Gs as their emerging market iPhone model? While its form factor differs from that of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3Gs was an 8GB smartphone — and it even runs iOs 5 (sort of).
Finally — and this has been said before — how does this co-released iPhone potentially cloud the release of the iPhone 5? Why would Apple want to release anything in close proximity to the iPhone 5 that could cast doubts into the minds of consumers as to whether or not they want to invest in the bold, new iPhone, or otherwise weigh the possibilities of getting a good deal on an older or lesser-powered iPhone?
Regardless of what Apple chooses to do with the iPhone this year, it seems doubtful that they would make any marketing move that would diminish the impact of the new iPhone. This co-release theory would seem to do just that.

This post was written by: Irfan Jam

Irfan Jam is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Facebook