Making cheaper phones would not help Apple expand its
market share, marketing chief Phil Schiller told a Chinese
newspaper in an interview when asked to comment on rumors
the company is developing a less expensive version of its
popular smartphone.
Schiller pointed out that though Apple commanded just 20
percent of the smartphone market, it had 75 percent of the
profit, according to an interview he gave the Shanghai
Evening News.
"Originally, many in the Chinese market used feature
phones (regular wireless phones). But now a few companies
are starting to use cheap smartphones to take the place of
feature phones," Schiller was cited as saying in his first interview with a Chinese newspaper.
"But this is not a direction that we want to be heading in
with our products," he was quoted as saying in the
report.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous
sources as saying Apple could release a cheaper iPhone as
early as this year.
In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency this week,
Apple CES Tim Cook said he was confident China will
someday become the company's single largest market.