iPhone 5  the most anticipated handset of the year! Ever thought that even after its arrival in June or October, would you be able to lay your hands on one? Well, here we are… helping you figure that out! Considering the pricey additions that are rumored to be made to the sixth generation iPhone, iPhone 5 will probably be a little costlier than the iPhone 4S.

Now, when we talk of “pricey additions”, the very first thing that pops up in our mind is its screen display. With bigger screen and as rumored, use of the in-cell touch technology in making the display would add up to the overall cost of iPhone production. Better camera, better processor, LTE capability and Near Field Communication support- presence of these features wouldn’t even let you dream about getting the next generation iPhone at lower prices. And to top it all, we may get to enjoy talking to our friends for prolonged hours and yes, we would definitely love to show off our tougher liquidmetal shell iPhone 5 with great pride! Fortunate enough to get this package on low price? Hell no!

In 2010 when iPhone 4 was released, its 16 GB model was offered at $199 and 32 GB at $299 (with carrier contract). One year later, even with several improvements over its predecessor, iPhone 4S was also launched with the same price tag. It has a better camera, Siri, improved processor, better operating system and several other plus points in comparison to iPhone 4. But still, it’s offered at same price! So, how about considering the discussion we had in previous paragraph once again eh?

Well, on-contract and off-contract prices of iPhone differ hugely. For instance, each of contract-free 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB models of iPhone 4S are $450 costlier than their corresponding on-contract models. However, contract-free iPhone 4 was available at a price difference of $300 from their on-contract equals. So, as we can notice, contract-free iPhone 4S is up by $150 in cost. Analysts say that a similar difference in between on-contract and contract-free version of iPhone 5 will be seen, with at most $100 added to the previous difference of $450 (as seen in iPhone 4S).

Some of the analysts and credible technical websites predict that the iPhone 5 with lowest storage (probably 16 GB) would cost something in between $200 to $300. Whatsoever, nothing can be said for sure.

Apple is trying really hard to get rid of its reputation of launching costly products only. Releasing new generations of iPhones at prices similar to those of previous generation models exemplifies Apple’s attempts to do so, very clearly! However, with so many added functionalities and features, it’s seems rather difficult to follow the same trend with iPhone 5. To be duly noticed, not all improvements lead to increase in cost of the gadget. Some of them bring down the cost of other components too. But it’s unlikely that the reduction in price of some of the employed components will dominate the increased cost incurred by using high-priced parts for enhancing handset’s functionality!

At present, the entire scene seems a little dusky. As a matter of fact, it will remain to be so unless Apple itself makes an appearance. Until then, no one can really say if iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S will have a huge price gap, or even a gap at all! With Apple, the most annoying (yet a little enticing) thing is that you can never predict what’s up with it!