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A new model aimed at building market share in countries such as China and Brazil will combine styling cues from across the existing iPhone and iPod range.

As rumors continue to surface that Apple is planning a low-cost iPhone to build its customer base in China and Brazil, one site, iLounge is claiming to have seen a prototype of the handset.

According to iLounge's sources, the phone will have the same 4-inch Retina display of the current flagship iPhone 5 but won't be finished in a streamlined anodized aluminium shell. Instead it will take design cues from the latest generation of iPod Touch devices and even the iPod classic.

The handest is reported to be at least 1mm thicker than the iPhone 5 and will follow the shape of the iPod classic around its edges and on its rear. However, unlike the iPod classic, the rear cover will not be made of stainless steel or polished aluminum and will instead use high-quality plastic.

As iLounge reporter Jeremy Horwitz writes: "The budget iPhone will look a lot like an iPhone 5 from the front, an iPod classic from the side, and an iPod touch 5G on the bottom -- only made from plastic rather than glass or metal."

Despite posting the biggest profits in history for a non-oil-pumping company over the last four financial quarters, Apple's share price has fallen by over 30% in the last 12 months as investors and analysts alike panic. They're concerned that Apple is running out of potential customers for its premium products and that if it is continue to perform, it needs to address the lower end of the markets in which it operates. However, it isn't in Apple's DNA to produce cut-price products. It is in its nature to develop consumer and professional lines of the same product, for example the MacBook and the MacBook Pro ranges of notebook. But making the same distinction in terms of quality and features for smartphone users could prove much more challenging.

At the company's town hall meeting on January 24, the day after it published its quarterly earnings, Apple's CEO Tim Cook told the company's employees that making new products that people love, and not share price, was Apple's top priority, according to 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman.