Publications in the Far East keep the “low-cost iPhone” flame burning

Mar 8, 2013 09:42 GMT  ·  By

This one’s about as sketchy as they get, but a rumor from Asia says Apple will employ a Qualcomm SoC (system-on-a-chip) to power the wireless capabilities of a “cheap” iPhone model rolling out later this year.

First and foremost, readers should note that, regardless of how many “cheap” iPhone rumors are floating around the web today, Apple might actually not launch this product.

There are several factors that back up this hypothesis, including the fact that Apple already sells what can be considered cheap iPhones (iPhone 4, iPhone 4S).

Now, a story from China’s Commercial Times citing an unnamed industry source claims TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) has accepted an order from U.S. chip company Qualcomm to mass produce a Snapdragon-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) for an upcoming version of the iPhone that will sell for cheap.

Production will reportedly kick off in the second quarter of 2013, which means the phone itself could launch in fall. No name is provided for the alleged device.

Japanese blog Macotakara provides some more details regarding the Chinese-language report, adding that Renesas Electronics will produce the semiconductors driving liquid crystal panels sequentially, while Toshiba, Elpida Memory, Micron Technology, SK Hynix, and SanDisk will be responsible with the NAND flash memory used in the cheap iPhone.