Budget iPhone 5c to cost between £230 and £320

The budget iPhone 5c will be priced between £230 and £320 for the SIM free model, according to reports.

The price comes from KGI analyst Ming-chi Kuo, who says that the budget iPhone won’t be as budget as first thought. Rather, as speculated by T3.com earlier this week, the iPhone 5c will replace the iPhone 5, with the iPhone 4s acting as Apple’s true budget model. According to Ming-chi, the iPhone 4 will likely be withdrawn from the market altogether because it lacks full support for iOS 7. Read more: iPhone 5s and 5c release date, features, price and rumours In a research note, he wrote: "iPhone 5C to replace iPhone 5, while iPhone 4S goes on. We’ve learned that the iPhone 5 line will be terminated from 4Q13, while the iPhone 4S line will carry on. "From this, we infer that iPhone 5C is launched to replace iPhone 5. In other words, the 5C model will be positioned as midrange. We forecast its retail price to be US$400-$500 (£230-£320). "We expect iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will fall into the price ranges of US$600–700, US$400–500, US$300–400 and US$200–300, respectively, in the new product cycle. Read more: Best smartphones to buy in 2013 “Since iPhone 4’s specs may not be adequate to run on iOS 7, we think this line may be terminated.” Ming-Chi believes the iPhone 5c will go on sale in China first, this October. The rest of the world will follow later in Q4. Want more on the iPhone 5C? Watch our 3D concept render video below for more on what the budget phone could look like and what it could do.