London, Mar 2 : A plastic iPhone 5 that would cost roughly half the price of the standard Apple smartphone will be launched soon to target young, middle class consumers in countries like China and India.

According to a Japanese website, Macotakara, the budget version of Apple''s latest iPhone will cost roughly 330 dollars.

In January it was reported that the planned new phone will resemble the iPhone 5 from the front, but Apple will replace that handset''s aluminium body with a cheaper plastic casing, the Telegraph reports.

Jeremy Horwitz, of iLounge, claimed that "reliable sources" told him the new device will have a "retina" display and feature Apple''s new Lightning connector for charging and syncing.

Horwitz wrote that according to a source, Apple's iPhone prices remain too high for most mainland Chinese customers, the iPhone 5 hardware alone starts at 849 dollars there, versus the iPhone 4 at 500 dollars, in a country where the average annual salary is around 3,000 dollars per person.

The source has said that mainland Chinese iPhone 5 sales are already tapering off as a result of the pricing, which is higher than in Hong Kong," he said.

A budget iPhone model would help sales in populous but underdeveloped countries to grow, he added. (ANI)