Joe Rossignol, writing for MacRumors:

Chinese website cnBeta [Google Translate] is the latest source to claim Apple will release a new 4-inch iPhone early this year. The blog, citing Foxconn sources, shared many new details about the so-called “iPhone 5e” that we have broken down for comparison against previous 4-inch iPhone rumors below.

It’s a little unfortunate that this “iPhone 5e” isn’t likely to feature an A9, but I can understand why Apple would want to keep the top performing chips in their more expensive devices. I would take this rumor with a grain of salt, though. As Rossignol points out at the end of the piece, cnBeta’s track record is hit or miss.