Apple on Wednesday cut the price of the iPhone by a third in the US in an effort to boost sales, while announcing a worldwide ‘phone-less’ version of the flagship product.

At an unveiling of a new line of its music and video players in San Francisco, Steve Jobs, chief executive, said the price of its most popular iPhone, with 8Gb of storage, would be cut from $599 to $399 in time for the crucial holiday season selling period. Its $499 4Gb version would be discontinued.