Is Apple Working On A Cheaper iPhone 7?

Before one can tackle the question of if Apples working on a brand-new cheaper iPhone that isn't the 6.1 inch LCD iPhone, We must ask why? Over the past year Apple has been in uncharted territory when it comes to pricing their iPhones. With maxed out versions blowing past the $1000 mark Apple's sales show no sign of slowing down, Infact investors are so confident in Apple that the company just passed $1 trillion in market valuations. So why would a company enjoying such success even try to make a budget or cheaper iPhone. This is even more perplexing when you consider the fact that were talking about Apple, A company that most of the public views as a company that's looking for the next cash grab.
Yes Apple has been having stellar sales. Thanks in no small part to the insatiable smartphone demand in the North American and Chinese markets. Well 10 years after the first iPhone that insatiable demand for smartphones has well been satiated. Every one in a developed economy who wants a smartphone has a smartphone and with smartphones lasting longer and people see no need to upgrade their phone every year. This translates into weaker smartphone sales for almost all smartphone OEMs. So its no surprise that most OEMs are shifting their focus from North America and China to countries like India and the latin Americas. These countries are vast and untapped. Smartphone is penetration is low and analysts predict that countries like India can drive global smartphone sales. With these countries experiencing immense economic growth it isn't impossible to think that these countries will have a large middle class in a few years with huge purchasing power. But for the  time being India and the Latin Americas are what you'd call "Price sensitive" markets, Which is a fancy way of saying that the people there don't drop thousands of dollars for a phone. For them to buy your phones tomorrow you need to have a presence there today. For a company that focuses on premium hardware with premium prices to match, Having a large market share in markets like India is challenging. Apple doesn't have a compelling offer in the price segment in which most of the sales occur India. Most of the phones sold in India are between $200-$400. So for the majority of people a relatively modern iPhone is out of reach.

To Cheap Out Or Not ?

While the iPhone SE had a lukewarm reception globally the SE was a runaway hit in India. For the first time you had a relatively modern iPhone at an affordable price. For these reasons the phone sold really well. Helping Apple hit new highs in the country. It was so well suited to the Indian market that Apple set up a manufacturing plant in India just for the SE, The only one outside of China and The US. But now that the SE is getting dated interest in the phone has waned. This is right about when we started hearing about rumours of the iPhone SE2. A budget iPhone with a 4inch screen and the internals of the iPhone 7 manufactured in India. This all lines up with the logical step Apple would take in order to bolster their Indian line-up. Manufacturing locally would exempt them from the huge import tariffs that just keep going up. But this phone never eventuated. We thought we'd see it at WWDC but it never did. But the rumours kept swirling. There was talk of an iPhone X-ified iPhone SE with case makers getting in on the speculation but surprise surprise this too never happened. Recently a developer digging through a beta of Xcode found references to an iPhone XX, Now this is most likely a placeholder but it had some interesting specs to match a 4.7 inch PCI-3 screen, 2 gigabytes of ram and an A10 fusion chip. For the technically inclined in my audience you'll realise that that is the specs of the iPhone 7, which is listed in the dropdown on the Xcode Beta. So the prevalent theory is that Apple is about to give the 5c treatment to the iPhone 7. This totally makes sense. India needs a cheaper iPhone to reverse the company's failing fortunes in the country. The initial rumours suggested that this new budget phone might be manufactured exclusively in India to avoid the above mentioned tariffs. When you consider the fact that the factory in India is capable of producing iPhone 6s' which aren't that different from an iPhone 7.Moreover a cheaper iPhone 7 would fix everyones main complaint with the iPhone SE, Its small screen.I think its wholly possible that Apple could be cooking up a cheaper iPhone to launch in select markets to gain a foothold in these price sensitive markets. Its the next logical move from Apple