There had been many rumours about Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPPL) budget iPhone, the iPhone 5C. The most popular theory was that the iPhone 5C was an attempt by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPPL) to enter the emerging and low-end smartphone market. Some analysts claimed that the iPhone 5C is Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPPL) way of fighting cheaper Samsung handsets' bottleneck in the market share.

Fireball's John Gruber upheld that the iPhone 5C will really be available cheaply at $349 to $399.

Analyst Gene Munsters predicted that the Apple's iPhone 5C will not be cheap after all because on-demand apps like Siri and other advanced software will not be available to iPhone 5C devices.

However, analyst Anthony Kosner of Forbes thinks that the iPhone 5C is actually Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPPL) effort to divert Apple users' interest to the larger 16:9 screen, hence to build share on these type of devices.

"The really important point about the 5C, I think, is that it will give Apple a way to defragment its user base and consolidate more and more of its app customers within the new 16:9 format of the iPhone 5. Apple is losing the battle of numbers to Android, in general, and Samsung in particular, but it still has the quality advantage. By this I don't mean the quality of its hardware (which is debatable) but of its audience," Mr Kosner said.

Apple's devices were consistently designed with 3.5 inch, 3:2 screen display, until the iPhone 5's 40-inch screen. Mr Kosner explained that the iPhone 5's screen size was a bold and more expensive introduction to the rather consistent smaller-sized iPhone screen. As a result, loyal Apple users still preferred the smaller-sized and more affordable older model devices like the iPhone 4.

But with iPhone 5C, which has the large screen the same as iPhone 5, Apple users will then be tempted to shift their preference to larger screen-sized models but with the cheaper price comparable to older iPhone devices.

For Mr Kosner, the iPhone 5C is not really about having Apple (NASDAQ:AAPPL) release an entirely cheap iPhone device. The iPhone 5C is all about Apple's inherent and keen marketing strategy to introduce an all new iPhone screen experience for the loyal Apple users.

"The iPhone 5C may not be cheap, but it will be cinematic," Mr Kosner wrote.