From Apple televisions to watches to budget iPhones, the air is full of Apple rumors. Coming off  the announcement of a radically different Mac Pro last month, Apple have been hard at work dispelling claims that they can no longer “innovate”; a word most people associate with the Apple brand.

Rumors have been spreading around for months that design team at Apple have been working on a budget option for the iPhone range. Pitched as something between an iPhone and iPod Touch, the budget iPhone would offer users who can’t afford the hefty price tag of an iPhone 5 the ability to become an Apple smartphone user. Apple could pull this off by creating a lower cost design perhaps with lower specs or cheaper to manufacture parts.

The above images leaked last month by the Taiwanese company Techedy revealed a possible prototype for a budget iPhone. Looking like a chunkier iPhone 5 with a plastic backing similar to the old iPhone 3, the device definitely looked like a possible budget iPhone. Along with a gallery of photos showing off the device there was a high quality video further proving the authenticity of the device. But as it turns out though the whole article could’ve been a potential PR stunt because as it turns out Techedy is already selling a knockoff of the leaked budget iPhone.

So there’s a good chance that the above prototype is actually a fake but does this rule Apple out of the budget game completely?

Martin Hajek, a 3D artist, has released his illustrations of how the budget iPhone could look. Following the design of the Techedy prototype, Hajek proposes Apple will go for a splash of colour for their advertising for the potential budget phone. Similar to the chromatic choice that Apple offered for the original iMac G3, Hajek show’s the hypothetical prototype could be offered in bright, contrasting colours also drawing illusions to the new use of colour in iOS 7.

Though completely a creation of Hajek’s imagination, the preview does highlight not only how Apple might do it but also how effective a good budget iPhone could be for the market. With Samsung being the only company to offer a budget version of their flagship Galaxy handsets with the Galaxy Mini, it would be an interesting game changer that could potentially see the middle and lower parts of the smartphone market explode with a range of high-quality alternatives.  

With more potential Apple announcements coming our way this year this is another rumor we’ll have to keep our eye on but make sure we don’t get too excited about.

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