Amazon rumoured to be working on Kindle phone

Now that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet has arrived - in the US, at least - speculation has turned to phones.

An investor has suggested the retail giant has started working on a smartphone to be launched at the end of next year.

"Based on our supply-chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in Q4 12," Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney said in an investor's note, according to AllThingsDigital. "Based on our supply chain check, we believe FIH [Foxconn International Holdings] is now jointly developing the phone with Amazon."

Foxconn is perhaps best known for manufacturing Apple's iPhone, but has also helped develop Amazon's Kindle ebook readers and tablets.

The analysts claim the smartphone would cost between $US150 ($A150) to $170 to build, but didn't comment on what OS would be used. Amazon's recently launched Kindle Fire tablet uses a version of Android.

Amazon has yet to return request for comment.

This article originally appeared at pcpro.co.uk