Apple vice president Phil Schiller: There Will Be No Cheapo iPhone, Stupid!

This is not surprising, but since the Wall Street Journal keeps releasing stupid stupid STUPID reports on Apple developing a cheapo iPhone year after year, it's good to have Phil Schiller punching them in the groin with a big hell-no:

Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products. In fact, although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20%, we own the 75% of the profit.

He could have said it wearing a King Kong costume and a 100,000 watt speaker on top of the Empire State Building, but the message cannot get clearer than that.

Of course, Schiller could by lying about this. But the fact is that a cheapo iPhone with razor-thin margins will only do three things: cannibalize the top iPhone, reduce their profit margins and total income, and cheapen a brand that is perceived to be the top electronics brand in the world according to all marketing rankings. And, like Phil says, this is about making as much money as they can, not owning the market battling a myriad of crapola smartphones at the expense of the bottom line.