Asian suppliers to Apple have begun manufacturing a lower-priced version of its hot selling iPhone 4 with a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.The flash drive for the 8GB iPhone 4 is being manufactured by Korean company. Apple sources its flash drives from Japan’s Toshiba and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. The source declined to be identified because the information has not been made public.
Apple which demands high level of secrecy and security from suppliers and employees. The existing iPhone 4 was first launched in June 2010 with 16GB and 32GB versions, with a white version added to the line up in April. The 8GB version is expected to launch within weeks.
Some analysts said the cheaper GB iPhone 4 could help Apple boost sales in emerging markets. Apple may want to push into the emerging market segment where customers want to switch to low to mid end smart phones from high end feature phones, which usually cost $150-200.
