Tech Rumor of the Day: Apple

Eager to prime the sales pump, Apple (AAPL) may finally be bending to the economic headwinds.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based gadget maker may cut the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone to $99, according to a growing consensus among analysts.

RBC analyst Mike Abramsky is the latest to predict that Apple could be set to create two tiers of iPhones -- a low-end model and a more expensive iPhone Pro -- in an effort to diversify its mobile phone price line up.

Apple could take advantage of the lower costs of parts and labor and cut the iPhone price in half, Abramsky writes in a note Wednesday. This lower price could help stimulate demand for the iPhone among less affluent customers.

According to Abramsky, iPhone sales could increase 30% to 40% with a cheaper price tag. The price cut could help Apple sell 5 million $99 iPhones this year, and 22 million next year, by Abramsky's estimates.

The potential price cut comes as Apple's iPhone enters its third year with the same design. In gadget land, hot designs start to lose their appeal in their third year. And with iPod and Mac sales in decline , Apple needs to wring as much sales juice as it can out of the iPhone.

Apple also faces stiff competition from smartphone rivals like Palm (PALM), Research In Motion (RIMM) and Nokia (NOK), all of which have new devices coming in the next month.

On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Karen Huberty upgraded Apple to buy from hold, predicting that Apple will cut the price of the iPhone. Huberty wrote that she believed a iPhone price cut would be a home run on the sales front.