Apple has always tried to woo everyone by coming up with something different, and making a non-iPhone smartphone certainly take everyone by surprise.

The company's co-founder Steve Wozniak has a unique what of conveying his thoughts, seemingly always pouring out his beliefs in an unfiltered manner.

Wozniak is at it again now, as the co-founder had a very interesting interview with Reuters in Singapore. Addressing the issues Apple is currently facing, the co-founder dwelled on the idea that his company might have to create specific products for certain regions rather than offering the same thing everywhere.

While reckoning that some Apple fanboys might find this concept "almost treasonous," Wozniak also wondered whether it wouldn't be better if Apple teamed up with Chinese partners and create a phone suitable for the local market. In other words, build a phone that is not an iPhone.

Such a handset should not bear the iPhone branding, only the Apple one, and the company should only "inspect it to make sure it's a quality product." The whole concept sounds similar to what Google is doing with its various Nexus partners.

Wozniak believes that Apple could operate within fairly narrow margins of cost and the company might make some sacrifices in the performance department in order to pack a cheaper processor and lower the costs overall.

"There are very few of those kind of trade-offs," acknowledged the Apple co-founder. "We haven't cracked the Chinese market as well as we could," he added, suggesting that one of the reasons was that local companies had a much better understanding of the market.

Consequently, a device born from a collaboration between Apple and a local company might sport "totally different features and work in a totally different way," thus making it a non-iPhone smartphone.

On the other hand, Wozniak is aware that this idea may never materialize. When asked what he would say were he to counsel current Apple CEO Tim Cook, Wozniak reckoned that he wouldn't want to try because it would most likely result in a discussion "more like a fight."

While Apple is undoubtedly a very successful company, it's becoming increasingly clearer that it needs to change something in its strategy if it wants to remain at the top of the food chain. Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs drove the company to the top through innovation and bold moves, but many observers now believe that Apple has lost its spark. The much-rumored budget iPhone would be one way to stir things up and offer something new, but a non-iPhone smartphone would definitely be something unexpected.