A new cheaper iPhone could be coming this spring, analyst says (AAPL)

September 29, 2015 at 14:28 PM EDT

Lisa Eadicicco

Apple hasn't released a new low-end iPhone since it released the iPhone 5C in 2013. That could change within a few months, however, according to Ananda Baruah at Brean Capital.

In a recent note, Baruah wrote that Apple could launch a new low-end iPhone as early as this spring. That would fall outside of Apple's typical product cycle, since the company has only unveiled new iPhones in the fall over the past several years.

Here's the snippet from Brean Capital's note that discusses a cheaper iPhone:

A new lower-end iPhone – either a smaller functional iPhone model or a “skinny (our term) iPhone 6 sized phone. This would allow AAPL to tap into emerging market / lower functional ASP-sensitive areas of the smartphone market.

This isn't the first time analysts have brought up the idea that Apple could be planning to release a cheaper iPhone before it launches its next flagship phone, which will presumably be called the iPhone 7. Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri previously told Business Insider that Apple once considered making a smaller 4-inch version of the iPhone 6, but had scrapped the idea.

It would be a smaller iPhone that provides a low-cost option for those who want an iPhone with Apple's more modern metal design but don't want to splurge on Apple's larger phones.

Arcuri said his sources and supply chain research indicated Apple was planning to make this smaller phone, which he referred to as the iPhone 6c, as recently as March 2015. But, as of July, evidence of this phone had disappeared from the supply chain.

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