SHANGHAI (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. may introduce a model of its iPhone this year that is 50 percent less expensive than the handsets that began sales in the US at the end of June, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Kevin Chang.The new model, which won't have a touch-screen like the current handset, may sell for less than $300, Chang said yesterday by telephone from Taipei, citing a patent Apple filed in the US and components suppliers he declined to identify. Apple began sales of two iPhone models priced at $499 and $599 on June 29.

A lower-priced iPhone may win users away from rivals Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc., with Chang estimating Apple may ship as many as 40 million units of the new handset in the fiscal year ending September 2008. Cupertino, California-based Apple will probably sell the new phone with several wireless carriers, unlike the five-year exclusive agreement it has with AT&T Inc. for the current iPhone, Chang said.

"We'll see this new iPhone having a noticeable impact on the handset market," Chang said. The new model may begin sales as early as the fourth quarter of this year, he said.

Jill Tan, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on the report.

The new iPhone model will likely be controlled by a scroll wheel similar to those used on Apple's iPod music players, Chang wrote in a report published yesterday. It will also have fewer functions, such as limited Internet browsing, he wrote.

Fewer functions would allow Apple to sell the handset with multiple carriers, as operators won't need to customise their wireless networks for the phone's services, Chang said. Subsidies provided by carriers may further lower the price of the new model to as little as $99, he said.