Apple has told two suppliers of its lower-cost iPhone 5C that it is reducing orders in the fourth quarter, according to a report by Dow Jones news agency Wednesday, raising concerns about weaker-than-expected demand for the new product.
Apple began selling it’s the new low-price option last month in 11 markets, including the U.S. and China, but consumers have focused on the more expensive 5S model, which was launched at the same time.
While demand for the costlier version, that comes with a fingerprint sensor and faster chips, outstripped expectations – especially the gold-colored version – the iPhone 5C has failed to generate as much interest.
Leave it to the media to turn higher-than-expected demand for the more expensive model into bad news.
The author could have made this post even more controversial, as I am sure it was intended, if he had worded the key phrase of the teaser “the iPhone 5C has failed to generate as much interest” to read “has failed to generate much interest”, leaving out the “as”.
Fact is, the 5C is selling, it’s simply being overshadowed by the 5S. People seem to be enamored with the fingerprint reader and the general desirability of that device more than any other right now, including the Samsung Galaxy S4. I have to say I agree having held and played with one. Both devices are a nice convenient and handy size, like some other buyers I am simply not into the colored phone thing. To each his own.
Edited 2013-10-16 09:06 UTC
It probably doesn’t help that the 5C just isn’t that much cheaper – it’s £550 for the 5S and £470 for the 5C, and if you’re willing to pay £470 for a phone, adding another £80 (17% more) to get one that is in all ways better doesn’t seem like a huge stretch.
Well, I know a number of teenagers. Those that have purchased a new iphone recently have all chosen the 5c due to the color options. However, these are the consumers that buy when they can get a new subsidized phone, not just because there is a new phone.
I’ve always thought that most new iphone purchases around the time of a release are those that must have the latest and don’t mind not getting the subsidized price. For those consumers, its obvious to me, that they would want the device with the newer hardware inside with the higher price tag.
I think 5c phones will eventually be a hit as price conscious consumers phone contracts come up for renewal, but it will be a slower uptake.
The media is turning it into a bad news because the most expensive model is also the most expensive to manufacture. The average revenue per iPhone sold is going down.
I do not agree if it is good or bad; it’s just what they have their eyes on. Apple would earn more money by selling more 5C than 5S, even though the 5S is more expensive.
Do you have any data on the actual margins for apple between the 5s and 5c?
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242677/Teardowns_reveal_App…
And, for comparison, estimation for the iPhone 5:
http://money.msn.com/technology-investment/post.aspx?post=c2739b74-…
Even if the numbers in this article are wrong, it seems to me pretty obvious that the cost-to-manufacture difference is less than the retail-price difference between the two models. A bit like how the price difference between different RAM or hard drive capacities of two variants of the same computer/smartphone/media player/etc. is several times higher than the actual cost of memory, even taking into account manufacturing line and inventory management.
Your sources state that the 5s and 5c both net Apple just about the same margin, the 5s being slightly higher (so they make more money on the non-plastic parts).
Apple screwed up pricing. Period.
Nope, willing consumers only…
Kochise
Fact is that the 5C is #2 model in US for two carriers and #3 for two more carriers, the 5S being #1 at all carriers and the S4 being the #2 or #3: the 5C sell probably as well as the S4 in US.
Moreover, the 5S being the only “new iPhone” from a technological point of view, it is logical that early adopters prefer this model. I would bet the 5C is a long term bet for Apple.
I don’t know whether Apple own estimates were even higher (but nobody knows), and US is not the world, but considering that the S4 is also an expensive smartphone and apparently does not match Samsung own previsions, it is quite safe to say that the iPhone 5C does sell roughly as well as the Galaxy S4.
I guess Nokia, HTC. Motorola, Blackberry would love to have such a poor seller in their portfolio.
Amazing how the financial press can turn ANY piece information into bad news for apple.
Edited 2013-10-16 16:46 UTC
A few days after launch, Chinese sellers already started giving discounts for the 5C:
http://bgr.com/2013/09/26/iphone-5c-discount-sale-china/
During the iPhone launch, up to 3.5 million 5C (of the 9 million 5C+5S shipped) may have been stuffed into the channel:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-iphone-sales-closer-to-55m-p…
In most markets, the 5S is outselling the 5C between 3 and 5 to one:
http://www.localytics.com/blog/2013/iphone-5s-outsells-5c-by-a-fact…
Carriers and retailers are launching special promotions for the 5C in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere:
http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/04/radio-shack-to-begin-matching-best-bu…
http://www.blue-deals.de/checkout?color=blue&device=iphone5c&tariff…
I think it is pretty clear by now that the 5C’s success fell short of Apple’s expectations. If there was a plan to grab more marketshare with the 5C, then it failed miserably. Still, even one fifth of the 5S sales is nothing to scoff at.
I’ve seen a large number of people using 5c’s on the subway and out and about. Doesn’t look like from my non-scientific observation out in the wild that people aren’t buying it. Maybe it’s just not meeting Apple-level goals.
Or you can buy a much more capable android for half price. Goodbye Apple. I’m not going to miss your Nazi DRM AT ALL.
Just so long as you don’t want to use any of those extra features in a hurry.
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
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Android.
http://i.imgur.com/9jJEU6k.jpg
The last ios reveal demoed almost ALL features that have been in android for 3 versions. This isn’t 2010. Apple lost their tech lead during gingerbread!
That is not correct. Apple still leads the way in some areas in mobile, e.g. they are the first to go 64 bit.
This has even prompted Samsung to announce that the next Galaxy will be 64 bit too, and Qualcomm to release a butthurt statement where they claim that the benefit of going 64 bit is only more memory (which is of course patently false).
What is correct is that Apple is out-innovated in other areas by the hordes of Android vendors who are able to satisfy every segment of the market with their huge variation.
Need a phone with built-in projector? Check.
Prefer the phablet size and input with a pen? Check.
Want a phone which docks into a tablet or workstation? Check.
Want a curved phone that shatters when you accidentally sit on it? Check.
64 bits ? Innovation ? Wohwohwoh, please gentleman, contain your orgasm. Have 64 bits brought something really tangible to desktops beside more huge memories ? Multicores have. What will 64 bits provides to a calendar and some phone applications ?
Remember the Atari Jaguar 64 bits fiasco ? Behold your 64 bits claims…
Kochise
Why, yes of course.
Calendar? Probably not much. The browser will benefit a bit more presumably.
Other than that it benefits security, GPGPU, compute intensive tasks, etc.
How in the hell is 64 bit innovation? It’s the next logical step in phones/tablets, and completely obvious. So they got it first? To what end? Are there any advantages at all yet?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/software/apple-io…
EVERY new feature revealed in the ios7 reveal is an Android feature that existed for at least more than 1 year, in some cases 3-4 years.
Apple hasn’t innovated since the Apple II. The iPad was obvious: xerox/parc had demos of it in the 70s, and Microsoft had demos in the 90s. The iPhone was also obvious. Hell, I’d been talking about that design for at least 5 years.
Apple IS first to market sometimes, and what do they do with that market leadership? They attempt to lock people into their stupid walled garden garbage, and then steal any innovation in their garden and implement as their own in-house solution.
F Apple. They are the worst. Don’t even get me started on their overpricing and their Foxconn suicide nets.
This afternoon I tried out a 5C at the phone shop. It was probably the most underwhelming experience I’ve had in a long time. The phone looks and feels like a $79 Nokia Asha. The screen is far too narrow and the GUI looks like it was designed for a toddler.
ps For the same price (AUD869) I could have had the infinitely superior Nokia 1020 (plus a 64GB memory card) or two great value big screen Android phones [Galaxy S4 + Huawei G526].
Yeah buddy, that’s the spirit, at least you got it
Kochise