There is a surge of demand for low-cost smartphones in China. Latest to ride the wave: local carrier China Unicom, which lost its exclusive deal to sell iPhones in 2012.
Apparently, the shift toward inexpensive phones is paying off, the company reporting a 55 percent jump in profits for the first half of 2013.
While there is still room for high-end smartphones, vast growth is seen selling inexpensive handsets to emerging markets, such as China and India. Apple could unveil a plastic iPhone aimed at first-time smartphone owners and still make "decent profitability" one analyst said Thursday...