Speculation persists that Taiwan’s Foxconn has been contracted by Amazon to build an Android-based smartphone for the online retail giant, with the latest media reports suggesting the device will be launched between the second and third quarter of 2013 at a unit price of $100 to $200.

Taiwan Economic News cites “some smartphone parts makers” as stating that Foxconn expects to ship up to 5 million units of the new device next year.

Rumours of an Amazon smartphone are not new. The company has achieved significant momentum in the tablet space following the launch of its Kindle Fire product and extending this to include a smartphone device seems a logical step forward.

For more Mobile World Live comment on the prospect of an Amazon smartphone see this article from last month.