A new range of images have appeared online, showcasing a mobile known as the Nokia 311, along with a new touch panel interface that is going to be available via the updated S40 operating system.

Nokia has apparently taken queues from the largely defunct MeeGo OS, assigning multiple homescreens and easy to use icons to S40.

Users will be able to swipe between the menus using their fingers and there will also be things like pinch to zoom and drop down menus to manipulate, which will certainly help to make Nokia's more affordable handsets seem a touch more appealing.

The Nokia 311 looks to be you-oriented and cheap, with a 3.2 megapixel camera and a modest touch panel display visible, in the recently released pictures.

Of course, Nokia will have to contend with serious competition from a wealth of Android smartphones, which are crowding into the lower echelons of the mobile market, so the 311 will need to work hard to catch the attention of consumers.

Planet Insane reports that sources from within the industry have said that the second quarter will also see a decrease amongst companies that supply Apple, with a 20 per cent reduction in shipments expected, as they get to work on manufacturing the components for what will be the sixth iPhone handset.

In previous weeks, it has been reported that Apple is to harness new in-cell touch panel technology for the iPhone 5, with some claiming that the reduction in shipments is evidence that work is going ahead with this hardware advancement.

It looks like manufacturers will actually have to combine forces with outside elements in order to integrate this technology, which could mean that the new iPhone is more technically complicated to manufacture than its predecessors. Whether this will have an impact on its retail price once it is finally released, remains to be seen.

While the current iPhone 4S has a 3.5 inch touch panel display, an iPhone Mini or iPhone Nano is possibly going to arrive with a screen of around three inches in size.

According to Planet Insane, the smaller iPhone could also be slimmer and more affordable than its fully featured sibling, with a more basic camera and less onboard storage space to help keep costs down.

Apple has not been reluctant to diversify its product ranges and offer a variety of options at different price points in the past, as is highlighted by the iPod range.

However, so far, it has always kept its iPhone family of the same size, with only the internal storage space differentiating models within a particular generation of the handset.

This should not completely discount the idea of a scaled down iPhone ever making it to market, but it does mean that Apple is not necessarily committed to taking this route.

The already-svelte iPhone range will be thinner than ever, thanks to in-cell touch panels which will replace the existing solutions harnessed for the iPhone 4S.

An analyst believes that various other assets, such as a slender battery, will help the sixth iPhone to measure just 7.9mm thick, putting it in contention to be one of the thinnest smartphones on the planet.

The race for thinner and thinner handsets is relatively new, since consumers are also looking for bigger and bigger screens.

The next touch panel used by the iPhone 5 is likely to be larger than the previous 3.5 inch screens found on Apple's current range. Some experts believe it will be around four inches across the diagonal, which is still a way off the 4.7 inch screens found on rival handsets from HTC and Samsung, but does go some way to addressing concerns about Apple's next hardware decisions.

Apple has become known for its user friendly interfaces, which rely on touch screen responsiveness, so hopefully, its upcoming iPhone will continue this trend.

Samsung sent out a large number of invitations to members of the press this week, indicating that a new Galaxy handset is on the horizon.

Surprisingly little is known about the Galaxy S3, although it is not too difficult to guess at the features it is likely to possess.

Most expect it to pack a 4.7-4.8 inch Super AMOLED touch panel display with a native high definition resolution.

This will be similar to the 4.65 inch screen found on the Galaxy Nexus which Samsung launched in conjunction with Google towards the end of last year.

A quad core processor is another anticipated feature of the Galaxy S3, although a dual core chip may also be on the cards, depending on which rumours you believe.

The main competitor for the Galaxy S3 is the recently launched HTC One X, which features a 4.7 inch touch panel display, quad core processor and all the bells and whistles which are set to define the top end of the mobile market for the next 12 months.