Question: When is an iPhone not an iPhone?

Answer: When it’s an ioPhone. And when it runs Android.

Seizing on the massive following the iPhone enjoys in Japan, Japanese manufacturer Iosys will reportedly start marketing its cheap knockoff iPhone 5c-inspired ioPhone5 this Friday.

In addition to running the Android 4.2 OS, the ioPhone5 also boasts (although presumably not that loudly) a 480×854 resolution display, 512MB of RAM, a dual-core Mediatek chip, 4GB of flash storage, and a 2 megapixel camera.

It also starts at 15,490 yen (around $150), which makes it considerably cheaper than the iPhone 5c.

Seeing as the iPhone 5c is said to appeal to former Android users — with almost half of iPhone 5c owners switching from competitor brands such as Samsung — perhaps this is a way of getting a few of those users back to Android.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on Iosys’ part.

• SourceCnet