Apple iPhone Mini Has Smartphone Costing Under $250

The Apple iPhone mini rumors have the mini costing under $250. The new iPhone mini would be a smaller budget version of the iPhone 5, which is similar to how the iPad mini shrinks the full iPad.

“The idea behind a smaller iPhone is simple – make it more affordable which in turn will open it up to a much larger user base. It’s no secret that Samsung is winning the proverbial smartphone battle as recent data shows the Korean electronics giant is expected to account for one third of all smartphones sold this year. Apple’s iPhone, on the other hand, is forecasted to capture 21 percent of the market, just a single percentage point more than last year.”

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek thinks the iPhone mini could launch early this summer at a price of $200 to $250. Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston told CNET that he thinks an iPhone mini is definitely in Apple’s future but perhaps not so soon:

“We believe Apple will have to launch an ‘iPhone Mini’ at some point over the next three years to address the hundreds of millions of prepaid users worldwide that cannot afford the current iPhone. The iPhone 5 is growing fast and profitably right now, so there is limited incentive for Apple to launch a profit-squeezing ‘iPhone Mini’ this year. We expect the ‘iPhone Mini’ to be more likely next year, in 2014, when Apple’s penetration of the global postpaid smartphone market will be nearing saturation and Apple will be forced to discover fresh growth streams elsewhere.”