Just a brief tidbit regarding rumors that are circulating regarding Apple’s plans for the iPhone family in China.
Some people are speculating that Apple will roll out the iPhone 5 to all of mainland China in order to radically enhance its footprint there.
A well-informed source has suggested that the plan is to drop the iPhone 3GS’s price—perhaps by half—and use it with modest regionally-appropriate modifications as an entry-level model for China. This just makes sense in light of Apple’s historic challenges in ramping up production on totally new products; keeping the 3GS around as the no-contract iPhone option for developing countries is highly plausible.
Note: many of the reports we get from our sources are “this is happening,” and some are less clear. This is one of the less clear ones, along with a bunch of other details (downgraded iPad coming in multiple color choices alongside the iPad 2 Plus) that are being deemed unreliable at this point.