The Possibility Of Qualcomm Processors Powering The Cheap iPhone
Whilst it would be very weird for Apple to go back to using third-party processor designs, in light of their investments into their own SoCs, I suppose it isn’t an impossibility.
At the end of the day, Apple would rather sacrifice its personal pride to create a better product. Also, Apple’s own processors are designed to hit ever-higher levels of performance. In a lower-end product, that kind of power (and cost premium) would simply be a waste.