Rumors of Apple releasing a budget-friendly iPhone have been around for months, but no real evidence has come across to prove this to be true or not. According to a newly leaked image, the evasive budget iPhone could very well be in the pipeline.

Tactus published on its blog recently the picture of what it says is the shell of the cheap iPhone Apple is working on, which means this whole rumor could very well be legitimate. However, one thing that needs to happen to make this rumor solid is for the device to find its way into stores, but that's something that might never happen.

The shell is allegedly 0.4-0.6 mm thick, which means the device is wider and taller than the iPhone 4/4S. Apart from the size of the shell, the handset is rumored to come packed with a 5-megapixel camera at the back, 3.5-inch Retina display, an A5 chip and multiple color options. These colors supposedly range from Black, White, Yellow and a variety of Blue shades.

It is possible we could be looking at that rumored cheap iPhone 5. The only problem with this shell is that it's plastic and the design looks too cheap. Apple might be interested in having a device for the lower-end spectrum of the smartphone market, but would the company release a phone with a plastic case that comes off as a generic Chinese product? Not likely.

Then again, desperate times call for desperate measures. With Android doing well in emerging markets, and Nokia pushing forward with lower price point Windows Phone 8 devices, Apple may have no choice but to release a subpar iPhone for those markets, to stay in the game.

The big question, is: would all or even most apps in the App Store work on this cheap iPhone? Would it even come pre-installed with the latest version of iOS?