IPhone Nano?

Coming in June, apparently Steve Jobs may be temporarily stepping down from Apple to recuperate from his health issues, but his return in June could be accompanied by a new iPhone nano.

Chip off the old block

Chip makers in the Far East are apparently preparing to ramp up production, ready for a new smaller iPhone that could start being manufactured in March all set for introduction in June.

This fits with Apple's current iPhone schedule, which has seen the previous two models introduced, in the US at least, in the middle of the year.

The good news, for the chip makers that is, is that the new smaller iPhone is expected to require a similar number of chips as the original and cost around the same to manufacturer.

Less good, if you're in the semiconductor trade, however is the anticipation that Apple will use the introduction of the new model to reduce the price of the original, giving it an additional way to fight off Google's Android OS.

Availability

There's nothing official yet, and it's unlikely anything will happen until Steve Jobs returns to his day-to-day duties, but Apple has consistently stuck to its product schedules in the past. If all goes to plan, though, this should hopefully mean in six months time Apple will be back with a bang.