Apple 'iPhone Mini' To Be Half The Size, Price Of iPhone 4: RUMOR (UPDATE)

*Scroll down for update.*

The Wall Street Journal has thrown its weight behind recent 'iPhone Nano' rumors.

This cheaper, smaller iPhone "would be about half the size of the iPhone 4," WSJ reports. The device could feature "an edge-to-edge screen that could be manipulated by touch, as well as a virtual keyboard and voice-based navigation," according to an unnamed person reportedly familiar with a prototype of the new phone.

A miniature iPhone could also mean a miniature price tag. Currently, consumers can pick up an iPhone 4 for $199 with a two-year contract from either AT&T or Verizon Wireless; The Journal writes that a smaller iPhone could be available at half the price. "That would allow carriers to subsidize most or all of the retail price, putting the iPhone in the same mass-market price range as rival smartphones," the source told the Journal.

Apple could release the new device as early as summer 2011, the source also hinted.

"It's not as if Apple has never made cheaper products in order to attract truly mass audiences," CNET acknowledges. "The iPod range offers variations from $49 to more than $200."

WSJ also reports that a budget iPhone could come with free access to Apple's MobileMe online storage service for personal digital media.

This new rumor steals some buzz from the Mobile World Congress, the largest yearly mobile conference, at which Apple is not present. The MWC is currently taking place in Barcelona and will run until February 17.

UPDATE An anonymous source has told Cult Of Mac that Apple plans to release the iPhone Mini with very little integrated memory. Less memory means the device will cost far less than the full-sized models.

"It will have only enough memory to buffer media streamed from the cloud," writes Cult of Mac. "The [device] will pull ALL it’s content from MobileMe. When users buy a movie or TV show on iTunes, it’s available to stream to their iPhone or iPad."

The source also assured Cult of Mac that the iPhone Mini will feature enough memory to download and run applications.

Comments

[TruEngineHearing]

10:28 AM on 02/15/2011

Sounds intriguing to me; I love the cloud; I expect to live on the cloud more and more. I also expect to be a reserve soldier in the war against anyone who disturbs my access to the cloud.

Look around you... we're either in the posse, or we're one of the numpties who doesn't mind serfdom.

[Sunzuki]

06:06 AM on 02/15/2011

.......and let me guess.....this version won't have a front facing camera but the iPhone 'nano' 2 will have one........ohh and it'll be released a year later. Apple = Substandard.

[Channa]

07:41 AM on 02/15/2011

Cheap shot. Everyone knows Apple is not substandard. They are SETTING the standards other tech companies are trying to beat.

[hamalnamal]

09:34 AM on 02/15/2011

Not really, it wouldn't go so far as to call them substandard, but as for setting the standard I will really only give them to things: making their products closed platform(which is bad, but they do set the standard for it) and making a useful touch screen.

[Sunzuki]

10:34 AM on 02/15/2011

Really? So if planned obsolescence is not the reason why the first iPad didn't have a front facing camera then how come the iPad 2 is supposed to have one? You don't have an answer to that....in fact you do, you just don't want to admit it.

[Morgantheaxe]

02:11 AM on 02/15/2011

Uhhhhh Im a huge Apple fanboy but come one!!! Its about the screen guys. The iphone is the perfect size. If you want to change it make it slightly larger. Thinner is always good but hey its all about the screen!!! What are you guys thinking????

[Channa]

07:46 AM on 02/15/2011

I think I would probably get one. I don't have an iPad (I avoid Apple first gen products) but I will be getting the iPad 2. This leaves me wondering why I need an iPhone. But I love my iPhone. I just won't need it's features at home or travelling etc. since I would use the iPad. But for running out on errands I don't think I would take the iPad with me. Still I would like to have my music or get an email update or look up an address.
I was considering just getting a stupid phone to go with my iPad but this would be great.

[ponyloco]

10:38 PM on 02/14/2011

I fell asleep before I even finished reading the headline...

[DRaymond]

08:05 PM on 02/14/2011

The first question is this...what is the absolute smallest that a touch screen keyboard can be without using a stylus?  Since a stylus negates muti-touch I doubt that Apple is going to make the 'iPhone nano' all that much smaller in the area of screen size.
 
Saving some money by using an older-generation processor is a possibility, as is skimping on some of the case materials and shaving a bit off of battery life.
 
Cutting the memory and making it just a buffer for the live application and data is interesting....and will make this the most expensive cheap phone you will ever buy.
 
The reason is this the days of the unlimited data plan are over.  So you want to listen to a song?  Download it all over again.  You want to run an app?  Download it all over again.  You want to edit a document?  Download the document, and the editing program, all over again.  Can't you just see the extra megabytes adding up?  Pushing you into the next tier?
 
Welcome to the most expensive free phone ever.

[Channa]

07:48 AM on 02/15/2011

There is a rumor that a lot of your content will be available on the cloud. There is still no official word on what their new center in North Carolina is going to do. It may be that. Also, Verizon has offered unlimited data plans and now ATT has followed suit.

[DRaymond]

12:25 PM on 02/15/2011

Ok, let me rephrase that...the days of the inexpensive unlimited data plan are over.  Verizon and AT&T's recently announced unlimited data plans are specifically stated that they are for a limited time only.  That means that they can drop it at any time and since they said up front that it was for a limited time only it will not be like other contract changes that you can simply opt to continue with the old contract.

[MrVee]

06:51 PM on 02/14/2011

I guess Steve don't really call the shots at Apple Inc. He claimed there would NOT be a smaller iphone, more than once. He also claimed there will NOT be a smaller Ipad. Lets see if the rumors turn out to be true. Then we'll know that Steve is just a highly paid Billy Mays.

[Xylem44]

06:46 PM on 02/14/2011

... Because I need as smaller way to still not see Flash content? Fix this already.

[Morgantheaxe]

02:13 AM on 02/15/2011

Do you own an iphone? Flash is so not a problem for me and I DO own an iphone. Have never had a sight or content I couldn't view. Not once.

[Xylem44]

09:15 AM on 02/15/2011

I'm on my second iphone. And no, Flash is not visible. So if you do own one then you are just messing with me for a reaction. Here it is. You got it.

[Daburn]

04:54 PM on 02/14/2011

Aww how cute... it's like a widdle baby sized iphone. Perfect gift for a toddler.

Does any one else feel like they're missing something? Like, some really important technology story going on right now that I'm missing 'cause I'm reading about baby iphones? It's like a weird, sinking feeling ;)

[noob1]

04:39 PM on 02/14/2011

This thing looks so cool. Love it. When and where can I buy it and does the Kindle app work on it? I'm sure it does, Apple is awesome like that.
http://surfpoet.com/

[Centient]

04:03 PM on 02/14/2011

I wonder if this will be a mini-iPhone 4 or if we're talking about a different set of features and functionality than the current iPhones we're used to?

[Wyeyes]

03:57 PM on 02/14/2011

I am always losing my phone in my pocketbook and around the house as it is.
Not gonna be a big fan of the smaller size.

[way2sunny]

04:48 PM on 02/14/2011

It would be really cute though -- I might have to buy it just for that!

[Morgantheaxe]

02:14 AM on 02/15/2011

I so respectfully disagree. Its about the screen size and smaller is not better when it comes to screens. I was hoping for a slimmer and bigger iphone about a year from now when I can upgrade :)

[Peter Phan]

12:24 PM on 04/01/2011

Give the phone a clip like the iPods. An inexpensive, small, cute clip iPhone will have a market. Especially if it's cheap enough to be fully subsidized (ie, free) from carriers.

[ThePlumber2012]

03:01 PM on 02/14/2011

As much as you all are complaining about it, I bet you that some of you will buy one when it comes out lol

[GeorgieMark]

02:54 PM on 02/14/2011

I think having a smaller screen kinda defeats the purpose here.

A smartphone is not just a handy tool any more it is slowly evolving into a fully fledged computer in your pocket.
That means productivity and multimedia. Imagine watching a youtube video on that thing. A nightmare.

[helioszephyr]

03:04 PM on 02/14/2011

same was said for the iPod Nano, and it sold well.
Not everyone needs/wants to crunch numbers or carry all their apps on a phone platform.
This downsizing is addressing a price market segment.

[KarateKid]

04:00 PM on 02/14/2011

You must be young. I can't imagine watching a video on something that small, without going further blind. lol

[GeorgieMark]

11:23 AM on 02/15/2011

Good point, still, I am one of those blokes with an accute phallic syndrome.
Bigger is better.

[J0E1]

02:14 PM on 02/14/2011

I have long been a supporter of virtual keyboards on a phone rather than physical ones but a virtual keyboard on something half the size of the iphone? Give me a break.  Not happening.

[GeorgieMark]

02:22 PM on 02/14/2011

fanned
solely because the QR code reads

"idiots need not reply"

[RevMetheus]

01:03 PM on 02/14/2011

Look at that picture, how the heck would you NOT hit 3 or 4 buttons at once?

Oh yeah, next year's iStick to tap the screen since you wont be able to do it correctly anymore

[rangermac]

01:27 PM on 02/14/2011

That picture is a photoshop job, not an actual photo. It is an artist's poor rendering of the concept to illustrate the article. There are no actual photos of this rumored device out on the internet.

[RevMetheus]

11:40 PM on 02/14/2011

I understand that. But if you are talking nano sized, my question is valid.