China report leaks even more details of budget, plastic iPhone

In a recent report, there are hints and referrals to the very mysterious (yet not-so-mysterious) lower-end plastic iPhone. This at least, is what All Things Digital is reporting. The report refers to the “scaled-back, less expensive version of the iPhone.”

Yesterday, it emerged that Apple supplier Pegatron was allegedly violating international labour laws. Naturally, China Labour Watch investigated and made its report public.

The plastic iPhone hasn’t been made official by Apple yet. This didn’t stop people from conducting their own premonitions about what’s to come from the big red fruit. It’s kind of like the chicken or the egg dilemma really. Do people start these rumours first or do companies feed the media slithers of leaks intentionally to test the waters?

Anyway, as the guys from China Labour Watch scrutinized the whole manufacturing process with prying eyes, they were obliged to record every little detail. “Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines,” the report says. It also refers to the “plastic back cover of the iPhone.”

Though the budget iPhone is currently resting on the conveyor belts, it “has not yet been put into mass production.” It’s possible that these plasticky iPhones are most likely part of a batch of prototypes. Last week we saw that Apple’s prototype step in designing their products starts off being quite abstract.

We know that tech companies go through prototypes of considerable variations which should be, for the most part, better left in the dark. So when the media catches wind of one of these prototypes it sometimes gets blown out of proportion by the press, fans get excited, start saving up their money and Apple’s like “well maybe we should actually go for prototype model after all.”

Then again, is this rumoured low-cost iPhone really a good thing for Apple? Yes, there is a massive market for smartphone seeking budgeteers that’s currently being dominated by the likes of Samsung. On the other hand, aren’t Apple’s products meant to be all about that sense of exclusivity and class?