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Budget iPhone feels less cheap than a Samsung, says leak

The latest budget iPhone leak says the plastic Apple phone feels less cheap than a Samsung Galaxy phone. Cheeky!

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm

The budget iPhone has seen more leaks than a civil servant's sieve, and the latest says the upcoming plastic iPhone feels nowhere near as cheap as a Samsung Galaxy phone. Ooh, controversial!

The follow-up to the Apple iPhone 5 is expected to be both a regular iPhone, set to be named the 5S, and a cheaper plastic version possibly called the iPhone Light.

A Chinese design collective claims to have got its hands on a genuine shell of the forthcoming 4-inch plastic iPhone, and have got into some chucklesome scrapes with it.

The folks at TechDy reckon the plastic-backed iPhone "does not feel cheap at all... unlike the plastic build quality of the Samsung Galaxy phones". Of course, this may all be rubbish, so take it with a pinch of salt.

The TechDy folks have then taken the alleged iPhone shell and filled it full of phone parts to make: an Android phone! And it's yours for just $199. The cheeky scamps.

Whether it's called the iPhone Light or something else, it seems almost certain Apple will release a cheaper iPhone alongside the latest model later this year. Exactly how wallet-friendly the iPhone Light is remains to be seen: it's likely to be a cheaper iPhone rather than a cheap iPhone.

Would you shell out for a plastic-shelled iPhone? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.