iPhone not likely to shrink soon

CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The latest research and development news from U.S. technology firm Apple doesn't include a smaller iPhone but a cheaper one is likely, various analysts said.

Media reports have pegged the iPhone 4 in development as including a smaller, cheaper option, The New York Times reported Friday. But a smaller iPhone isn't in the works, an anonymous source told the newspaper.

"Although the innards of the phone, including memory size or camera quality, could change to offer a less expensive model, the size of the device would not vary," the source said.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said in October that consistency was a selling point for the iPhone, suggesting the size wouldn't change.

Program developers would potentially have to make changes to about 300,000 applications for the iPhone if the size were to change. Apple doesn't want to put consumers and developers through that kind of chaos, the newspaper said.

But analysts said a cheaper iPhone would be a game changer.

"If they are going to be a player in the global market, they have to have a prepaid option," industry analyst Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray told the Times, referring to phones sold without a subsidy from a service provider, which is the norm in Europe.

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. said a cheaper version of Apple's hand-held blockbuster would boost iPhone sales 600 percent, the Times said.