Apple’s budget iPhone has been rumoured for months now to be a lighter, cheaper and ultimately, less impressive version of the iPhone 5. But did anyone ever think that the new budget iPhone would look like the 3GS? Care of Tactus.com, pictured below is a screenshot of the alleged budget iPhone.
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A source familiar with the development of the budget iPhone says that the new device is already in production. There’s plenty we can tell from the image above, so let’s get stuck in:
Polycarbonate shell
We can practically confirm that it’s a polycarbonate shell judging by this shot. It looks plastic, but hopefully Apple has taken a hint from Nokia this time and created a diamond-tough plastic exterior. We have terrible memories of hairline cracks throughout our 3GS cases. The back of the case is flat though, not rounded like the 3GS of old.
Three side-buttons
Now this is interesting. We see three holes on the left-hand side of the budget iPhone case. Two are for volume, but what’s the third one for? Is it going to be a media button like on BlackBerry’s Z10, or will it be the power button? None of the above. More than likely it’s be the mute/screen rotate toggle. Apple likes to stick to uniform design. Power button on top, volume on the sides. Boom, done.
It’s thicker
Just by glancing at the case, we can tell that the budget iPhone is not going to be the slimmest of devices. This is no iPhone 5, where “thinner, lighter and quicker” rules the day. What we’re gaining in thickness though may add to a larger screen, as the case seems to be larger than the standard 3GS/4/4S case size. Perhaps the budget iPhone will be a 4-incher like the iPhone 5? Most of the rumours point to a 3.5-inch screen, sadly. Some say yes, some say no. We say yes, purely because we want a cheaper, 4-inch iPhone.
Odds and ends
The camera, and it will most likely be an iSight model, may be 5MP. As for the CPU, the best bet is that it’s going to be an A5, the same CPU as the iPhone 4S. Again, this makes perfect sense to us. The 4S was and is an exceptionally nippy iPhone and that specific CPU is going to deliver a major speed upgrade for most new iPhone users. Finally, it’s being rumoured that the budget iPhone will come in five iPod Touch-like colors: yellow, red, blue, black and white. Save a yellow iPhone for us please.
