Amazon tipped to release branded smartphone next year

Handset to be made by Foxconn using TI and Qualcomm components, say analysts

Amazon is working with Chinese manufacturer Foxconn to produce a smartphone that will reach the market late next year, according to analysts at Citigroup.

Foxconn makes several electronics devices, including the Apple iPhone.

Texas Instruments and Qualcomm are also said to be developing components for the Amazon handset.

The reports indicate that the smartphone will cost $150 to $170, and will be sold at cost to carriers in the fourth quarter of 2012. Amazon will look to make money through the sale of content rather than the device itself.

"With the clear success of the Kindle e-reader over the past three years, and Kindle Fire possibly succeeding in the low-priced tablet market, we view this as the next logical step for Amazon," said Citigroup analysts Kevin Chang and Mark Maheney.

"We continue to believe that Amazon has now set its eyes on the mobile (and tablet) media and product consumption frontier."

The report did not indicate Amazon's choice of operating system for the phone, but the recently unveiled Kindle Fire tablet runs on a customised version of Android.

The release of a smartphone adds Amazon to a growing list of big-name companies fighting for the handset market.

Traditional vendors such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola have gravitated towards Android, but Nokia adopted Microsoft's Windows Phone for the Lumia 800 released earlier this month.

Apple remains a formidable force in the market with the iPhone, meanwhile, and RIM is looking to reinvigorate the ailing BlackBerry brand.