Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2014 iPhone line up.

hamiltonDSi

hamiltonDSi

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2012
1,615
287
Romania
I am curios what the next iPhone strategy will be like.
I think that the new iPhone 6c will have the same design as the current 5c with the same specs/internals of the current 5s and of course a iPhone 6 with a new design and new features.
But which iPhone will Apple offer for free on contract ? Perhaps the current 5c ?

So my money is on this :

Phone 5c (current gen, untouched) : free
iPhone 6c (5c design with 5s internals) : 99$
iPhone 6 (new design and new specific features) : 199 $
 
Last edited:
I've been thinking about this recently because what's going to happen is not as obvious as in the past.

Spec-wise, here's my 2014 guess:

$0 - The current 5C
$99 - A plastic-backed phone with 5S internals
$199 - The iPhone 6

So the specs are easy to guess, but what about names?

The iPhone 6 is easy, but what are they going to call the other two phones? 5C and 5C2? (weird) 5C and 6C? (bad because it has 5S internals, not 6 internals) 5C 16 GB and 5C 64 GB? (maybe, but now I'm really reaching)

None of these really strike me as perfect. Which has kept me thinking up even crazier ideas.

So here's my wild-pie-in-the-sky guess: They'll take advantage of this mess to finally lower the price of the phones. (As smart phones become more common their margins can't last forever.)

So maybe we'll get:

$0 - The iPhone C (like the iPad, never gets a number, you just always know its last year's internals in a plastic phone)

$99 - iPhone 6 (the 'new phone' that continues to alternate between 'S' and non-S years)

And then that's it? Apple's done 3 price points for awhile now, but I think eventually they'll have to drop prices. And since one of the 3 is currently free I think a drop in prices means that eventually Apple only has 2 iPhone models instead of 3.
 
Small White Car said:
I've been thinking about this recently because what's going to happen is not as obvious as in the past.

Spec-wise, here's my 2014 guess:

$0 - The current 5C
$99 - A plastic-backed phone with 5S internals
$199 - The iPhone 6

So the specs are easy to guess, but what about names?

The iPhone 6 is easy, but what are they going to call the other two phones? 5C and 5C2? (weird) 5C and 6C? (bad because it has 5S internals, not 6 internals) 5C 16 GB and 5C 64 GB? (maybe, but now I'm really reaching)

None of these really strike me as perfect. Which has kept me thinking up even crazier ideas.

So here's my wild-pie-in-the-sky guess: They'll take advantage of this mess to finally lower the price of the phones. (As smart phones become more common their margins can't last forever.)

So maybe we'll get:

$0 - The iPhone C (like the iPad, never gets a number, you just always know its last year's internals in a plastic phone)

$99 - iPhone 6 (the 'new phone' that continues to alternate between 'S' and non-S years)

And then that's it? Apple's done 3 price points for awhile now, but I think eventually they'll have to drop prices. And since one of the 3 is currently free I think a drop in prices means that eventually Apple only has 2 iPhone models instead of 3.
Click to expand...

Given the competitors prices, I don't think Apple would have the newest iPhone selling at $99. Newest will be $199, last years model $99.

Who knows, maybe they wont even continue doing the "C".

At this point, anything could happen.
 
Maybe the C is going to roll on a 2 year cycle - dropping the 4s next year.. then they only need to make 2 models.

Would be cheaper than continuing to make 3 models every year, no?
 
Small White Car said:
I
Spec-wise, here's my 2014 guess:

$0 - The current 5C
$99 - A plastic-backed phone with 5S internals
$199 - The iPhone 6.
Click to expand...

This is possible. We will just have to wait and see.

Regarding the specs, I think that the A8 chip in the iPhone 6 will be a 64-bit quad-core chip with 2GB of Ram. This is the next move for Apple's high-end iPhone : quad-core CPU and double the Ram.

----------
sparkyms said:
Maybe the C is going to roll on a 2 year cycle - dropping the 4s next year.. then they only need to make 2 models.
Click to expand...

You too have a point. The 4S has been with us since late 2011 and it has another year in front. Perhaps the iPhone C will have a 2 year cycle.
 
What about this

Apple introduces new, larger form-factor iPhones next year. But these aren't "updates" to the iPhone 5s. They are entirely "new models." The iPhone 5s may not be updated at all next year. Apple cuts the prices on the iPhone 5s and 5c by $50 each (the 5c will be sold for free on contract by some retailers) and introduces the new iPhone models starting at $199 or even $249.
 
I don't think they can have a 6C if they don't put the 6 internals in it. People will get confused thinking why would I pay more to get fewer choices of colour?!

But they can't have a 5SC, can they?

I think the will have the 5C as free. A new, 5S type device (maybe even the existing 5S) as $99 and the new 6 at $199-$399.
 
Prices w/ contract:

iPhone 5C free
iPhone 5SC $100
iPhone 6 $200

or

iPhone 5C free
iPhone 6 $200
(NO 5S)

or

iPhone 5S (Plastic shell maybe) $100
iPhone 6 $200

or

iPhone 5C free
iPhone 5S $100
iPhone 6 $200
 
iPhone 6 - Flagsip
iPhone 5c rev 2 or whatever. This one will have the 5s internals.

That way Apple will have a 64 bit line of devices and can start pushing developers off 32bit.
 
watchthisspace said:
That way Apple will have a 64 bit line of devices and can start pushing developers off 32bit.
Click to expand...

I don't know what to say because this year Apple choose to keep the 4S in production and drift the developers away from the 3.5" Retina display.
They now sale two models with a 4" screen and one model with a 3.5" screen.
Are you getting it ?
Perhaps next year they will have two models with a 64-bit chip and one model with a 32-bit chip
As I said at the start of the thread, my money for the 2014 line up is on this :

Phone 5c (current gen, untouched / A6 32-bit ) : free
iPhone 6c (5c design with 5s internals / A7 64-bit) : 99$
iPhone 6 (new design and new specific features / A8 64-bit) : 199 $
 
hamiltonDSi said:
This is possible. We will just have to wait and see.

Regarding the specs, I think that the A8 chip in the iPhone 6 will be a 64-bit quad-core chip with 2GB of Ram. This is the next move for Apple's high-end iPhone : quad-core CPU and double the Ram.
Click to expand...


The number of cores and ram is an android thing. Heck, I have the note 3 and my 5S runs circles around this device.

This is also the same mistake that Sony made with the PS3.
 
hamiltonDSi said:
I don't know what to say because this year Apple choose to keep the 4S in production and drift the developers away from the 3.5" Retina display.
They now sale two models with a 4" screen and one model with a 3.5" screen.
Are you getting it ?
Perhaps next year they will have two models with a 64-bit chip and one model with a 32-bit chip
As I said at the start of the thread, my money for the 2014 line up is on this :

Phone 5c (current gen, untouched / A6 32-bit ) : free
iPhone 6c (5c design with 5s internals / A7 64-bit) : 99$
iPhone 6 (new design and new specific features / A8 64-bit) : 199 $
Click to expand...

I don't think they will two two lines of phones with a 5c design. The 6 design will be different enough from the 5S to the point where they can keep the 5s as is. They will have three distinct form factors, like they have now.
 
My bet is they'll keep the S series when the new cycles are introduced and C series
only shows up in S cycles

iPhone 6: 199 32gb, 299 64gb, 399 128 gb. Quadcore A8 processor 2gb ram. 4.8 inch screen
iPhone 5S: same as 5S but sold 100 less

iPhone 6S: 199 32gb, 299 64gb, 399 128 gb, Quadcore A9 processor 2gb ram. 4.8 inch screen
iPhone 6C: 99 32gb 199 64 gb, Quadcore A8 processor 2gb ram. 4.8 inch screen

iPhone 7: 199 32gb, 299 64 gb, 399 128 gb, Quadcore A10 processor. 5 inch screen
iPhone 6S: same as 6S but sold 100 less

iPhone 7S: 199 64gb, 299 128gb, 399 256gb, Quadcore A11 processor, 5 inch screen
iPhone 7C: 99 64gb, 199 128 gb, Quadcore A10 processor. 5 inch screen
 
Last edited:
aka777 said:
The number of cores and ram is an android thing. Heck, I have the note 3 and my 5S runs circles around this device.

This is also the same mistake that Sony made with the PS3.
Click to expand...

This.

While it wouldn't surprise me if the A8 is quad core, I have to agree with the number of cores being an android thing. My 5 ran circles around my GSIII and I regretted making that move for the 6 months I had it which is why I bought a 5S when it came out. I have had 3 flagship androids and though all of them were much higher end spec wise, my friend's IP4 would still outperform them. This is my second iphone and I most likely will not be returning to android again.
 
2014
iPhone 5C - $0 (identical to current model)
iPhone 5C with Touch ID - $99 (5S internals in a 5C body)
iPhone 6 - $199 (new body and internals)

2015
iPhone 5C with Touch ID - $0
iPhone 6C - $99 (6 internals in new plastic body)
iPhone 6S - $199 (new internals in 6 body)

I'm not sure where they go from there - either maintain three body styles for differentiation or use new features (like Touch ID) to separate the $99 C from the $0 C is the same body.
 
I'd imagine they will drop the naming conventions and do this:

iPhone (Sixth Generation)
iPhone Colour (Second Generation)

Everyone will be expecting a spec bump to the 5C, so they wont just knock it down the price band and put the 5S in it's place.

They may even introduce a new category, if the pahablet market is as big in the real world as it is with the dork's on here..

iPhone XL (First Gen)
iPhone (Sixth Gen)
iPhone Colour (Second Gen)
 
ItsWelshy said:
They may even introduce a new category, if the pahablet market is as big in the real world as it is with the dork's on here..

iPhone XL (First Gen)
iPhone (Sixth Gen)
iPhone Colour (Second Gen)
Click to expand...

Hope not !
The 4" screen is *perfect*.
 
I think it will be:

5C - free
5S - $99
6 - new design

I don't think the 5C is going to be updated for 2014.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back