Former Apple CEO John Sculley believes the company should design cheaper iPhone variants for emerging markets if it wants to keep growing.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sculley said Apple needs to adapt to a “different world,” as smartphones are dropping in price.

“As we go from $500 smartphones to even as low, for some companies, as $100 for a smartphone, you’ve got to dramatically rethink the supply chain and how you can make these products and do it profitably," Sculley said.

Sculley argued that rivals are catching up in terms of innovation, saying that the gap between the iPhone and rival models from the likes of Samsung is shrinking.

“Samsung is an extraordinarily good competitor,” Sculley said. “The differentiation between a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone 5 is not as great as we used to see.”

So far Apple has resisted the allure of low cost handsets, but as the competition is no longer playing catch-up, the company might be forced to reconsider its approach. It already did so in the tablet market, with the iPad mini.

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