The rumour mill regarding Apples plans for its smartphone range in 2013 have been going in to overdrive these last few months with talk of various new models being released, but according to some the popularity of the supposed iPhone Lite will be higher than any iPhone 6 or 5S models.

Apple has long been rumoured to have a cheaper version of the iPhone in the pipeline with the device going under a different number of names, and most recently it landed the iPhone 5C moniker after some alleged packaging surfaced.

Now though according to one analyst, Steve Milunovich the budget version of the iPhone will outsell the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6, and we have reported before that such a model could deflate the iPhone 5S release.

The device is tipped to shift 92 million units by the end of next year and making up 53% of the total iPhone sales, but this year it will only account for 3% which suggests it won’t arrive until late in the year.

These estimates are based on sales of the iPhone 4/4S that the budget model is tipped to replace, and currently have a gross margin of 55% as the components are cheaper. The iPhone Lite or whatever it might be called is tipped to have a margin of almost 32% though.

The device is rumoured to be a budget version of the iPhone 5 but with a plastic body along with a 4-inch display, and there is also tipped to be an 8-megapixel rear facing camera along with the A6 processor and either 16GB or 32GB storage options.

It does make some sense though as if Apple does release a cheaper iPhone it would become extremely popular in emerging markets where the demand for more affordable smartphones is increasing.

Do you think a budget iPhone would be the top seller?