Amazon's long-rumoured smartphone will be released next summer, according to a report, Digital Spy said.

Taiwanese news site Cens claims to have heard from alleged inside sources that the retailer has entered a deal with Foxconn to develop the handset.

The website reports that Foxconn, Apple's favoured manufacturing partner, is expected to produce 5 million Amazon-branded smartphones over the next year.

As with Amazon's Kindle products, the device itself is expected to be sold at a relatively low price as the company derives much of its profits from software sales. Cens claims the phone will retail at between £60 and £120.

Amazon was strongly tipped to unveil a Kindle-branded smartphone when it announced its latest batch of e-readers and tablets in September, but no such device surfaced.

Previous reports have speculated that such a phone would be powered by Amazon's highly-modified version of the Android operating system found on Kindle Fire tablets.