by: Hayley Tsukayama | The Washington Post

Rumors about a new, cheaper iPhone have been swirling for several days now, hitting a fever pitch as Bloomberg reported Thursday that a phone made of cheaper products could sell for under $150, and perhaps as little as $99.

But Apple executive and head of global marketing Phil Schiller stepped in to stop, or at least slow, the rumor mill with comments to the Shanghai Evening News, as translated and confirmed by The Next Web, that cheap smartphones will “never be the future of Apple’s products.”