Apple's manufacturers in Asia have received orders for a smaller, cheaper iPhone 4 as well as a slightly modified iPhone with a bigger touch screen, according to an unattributed Reuters report.
The long-rumored "baby iPhone" will cater to emerging markets and come with an 8GB flash drive made by a "Korean company," which could be Apple's key component maker, Samsung.
The "baby iPhone" rumor first surfaced in early February based on a Bloomberg report. At the time, it was reported that Apple was prepping a smaller, cheaper iPhone 4 that was half the size and half the price of the iPhone 4, which launched in June 2010.
The Reuters report, meanwhile, said that the next iPhone will look almost identical to the current iPhone 4, except with a bigger touch screen, better antenna, and an 8-megapixel camera.
So instead of the widely reported rumor of the next iPhone having a "radically different" look and feel, Reuters' sources said Apple will only launch a slightly modified iPhone at the end of September, which could be called the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S. Up to 45 million units have been ordered, with Hon Hai, Foxconn's parent company, and Pegatron named as manufacturers.
Last week, an AT&T exec reportedly said that the next-generation iPhone won't launch until October.
Losing track of all the Apple iPhone rumors? Be sure to check out What the iPhone 5 Might Look Like and Six Amazing Phone Technologies We Want in iPhone 5, as well as the 8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones" slideshow.