Analyst Predicts No Siri on iPhone 5C, Fingerprint Scanner Solely for Device Unlocking on iPhone 5S

[Vinamra]

Siri can only get better the more people use it, right? Why would they limit the number of people using said feature?

While I wouldn't want Siri not to be included in the 5C, the only plausible reason that I can think of not including the voice assistant is that maybe they believe strongly that it will sell extremely well (which I'm predicting too) and to keep the load on the servers to be a minimum, they exclude it from the lower cost iPhone.

 

[DipDog3]

Maybe Siri doesn't know how to speak Chinese

Language Support and Availability
Siri is available for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation). Siri understands and can speak the following languages:

United States (English, Spanish)
United Kingdom (English)
Australia (English)
France (French)
Germany (German)
Japan (Japanese)
Canada (English, Canadian French)
China (Mandarin)
Hong Kong (Cantonese)
Italy (Italian)
Korea (Korean)
Mexico (Spanish)
Spain (Spanish)
Switzerland (Italian, French, German)
Taiwan (Mandarin)

 

[jclardy]

So Apple releasing a new phone without Siri...seems very unlikely.

And secondly, one of the main new features of the new iPhone used just for unlocking the phone...also seems unlikely.

 

[roccobladr]

It would be stupid to restrict the fingerprint tech to just unlocking the phone. They should allow it to do some type of pulse reading or fitness tracking of possible to go head on with samsungs fitness line

 

[uknowimright]

I know many people who wouldn't even notice Siri was missing (if any of this is true, doubting it)

 

[mdelvecchio]

Let's stretch the iPhone 4, give it a plastic shell, and sell it as a 5C!!
Great idea!

do you understand the need to offer a cheaper product for lower end markets like china and India and children?

study up on the iPod, son.

 

[MacGizmo]

5 words in and the story gets shot to hell...

 

[mdelvecchio]

Everyone will probably tar and feather me for this but I still have a hard time believing that a iPhone '5c' will be announced. Except for the device power connectors and apple tv, Apple doesn't do plastic in its current lineup. Why start now? It lessens the brand. IMO all of these leaks just appear to be cheap knock offs.

oh lord still in denial. a lower cost model is needed for emerging markets. china, teens, etc. it's just that simple. please see iPod.

 

[TC03]

Everyone will probably tar and feather me for this but I still have a hard time believing that a iPhone '5c' will be announced. Except for the MBP power brick and apple tv, Apple doesn't do plastic in its current lineup. Why start now? It lessens the brand. IMO all of these leaks just appear to be cheap knock offs.

It lessens the brand? That's your argument? Apple has done plastic since forever. MacBooks, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod, etc. Apple does plastic. Besides that, what is the brand? Tim Cooking has been talking a lot about 'stickiness of the ecosystem'. I think 'the brand' is becoming less 'well designed hardware' and more 'functional, pleasant and easy to use ecosystem'. The brand is the ecosystem. It's not the hardware, it's iOS (and OS X).

For Apple to continue making sustainable profit (growth), a low cost iPhone is essential since the market is getting commoditized, meaning cheap phones are getting better and better. This will hurt iPhone sales in the long run, because a $199 can do a lot of things just as well as a $699 iPhone. I know, in the US the iPhone costs just $199, but that's still a $199 more than cheap Android phones that serve the needs of many just as well. The ASP of the iPhone has already been steadily declining because the old iPhones are getting more and more popular.

Using last year's top model as the current budget model is a difficult strategy. Why? Because the device was not designed to be cheap. If was designed to be the best, yet people who buy 'budget' iPhones don't always need the best, they just need an iPhone that serves their needs. Conclusively, targeting the mid-end market with last year's high end phone is not exactly a good fit. Also, take into account that premium materials (glass, aluminium) etc. have a pretty stable price, thus forming a constraint on how low the cost price can drop for Apple. Furthermore, I can imagine that Apple wants to reduce fragmentation by maintaining one screen size, one resolution and one connector.

iPhones are just devices to get people to use the Apple ecosystem. As hardware is becoming less relevant in general, the ecosystem becomes more and more important. In order to survive in the long run, Apple needs to get their ecosystem to as many people possible. To do so, they need to maintain their market share or improve it. You can't without a cheaper iPhone.

A cheaper iPhone is vital for the future of Apple and iOS in general.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

Sounds sorta like a slow news morning....

And Siri HAS to be on the iPhone 5C, if it's gonna replace the 4S and 5, then it has to.

 

[Skika]

Let's stretch the iPhone 4, give it a plastic shell, and sell it as a 5C!!
Great idea!

What will the 5C have in common with the 4?

Different chip, body, connector, probably camera...

 

[igazza]

Maybe Siri doesn't know how to speak Chinese

I was thinking the same but Siri does speak a few different languages

 

[newdeal]

does anyone even use siri?

 

[TC03]

oh lord still in denial. a lower cost model is needed for emerging markets. china, teens, etc. it's just that simple. please see iPod.

It's needed for every market. Maybe not now, but in a year or so Apple has to have the cheaper iPhone in normal markets as well. In two years, Apple has to has it in the US. In three years, Apple can't maintain sustainable profit without a cheaper iPhone.

Apple will be out of the smartphone business within 5 year if they don't release a cheaper iPhone.

 

[martygras9]

While I wouldn't want Siri not to be included in the 5C, the only plausible reason that I can think of not including the voice assistant is that maybe they believe strongly that it will sell extremely well (which I'm predicting too) and to keep the load on the servers to be a minimum, they exclude it from the lower cost iPhone.

I agree 100%. 5C is going to do well. Therefore it would seem like a rather odd decision to have been made. The cost they'd incur on their servers would be minimal given the ROI they'd be seeing.

 

[MacDarcy]

Most people I know don't use SIRI that much...but Apple is pushing to make it a big part of Apple's iOS going forward. Especially with in car integration.

I find it hard to believe Apple will remove it from the low cost iphone.

 

[BaldiMac]

If it were that significant Apple would just acquire Nuance.

I don't see how that follows. There is more to an acquisition than "I want it."

While I wouldn't want Siri not to be included in the 5C, the only plausible reason that I can think of not including the voice assistant is that maybe they believe strongly that it will sell extremely well (which I'm predicting too) and to keep the load on the servers to be a minimum, they exclude it from the lower cost iPhone.

Or the licensing cost from Nuance is significant enough that Apple needs to eliminate it in order to meet margin goals.

 

[MJD Dawg]

Apple Execs:
"We have to find a way to make the iPhone 5C worse than the iPhone 5S, because we dont have the ideas to make the iPhone 5S that much better than a cheap model."

LOL.

This was my first thought as well.

For the first time in years I have zero excitement about an iPhone release, and will not be buying.

I can just see Apple's new ad campaign now:

The iPhone 5S - a little faster, a little smarter, a little better camera, and now with a saphire home button!!! (Oh, and by the way, it was "Designed by Apple in California).

 

[Abobrek]

So, the 5C won't have Siri and the 5S won't have to ability to accept double presses to delete apps, as well as the other functions of a home button? How would that even be possible? Does he think the 5S will have a fingerprint reader AND a home button?

 

[GenesisST]

I'd personally prefer location based locking than a fingerprint scanner. When at home, not locked, elsewhere, lock it. Also, do it intelligently: don't unlock it when you are within range if it is already locked, etc.

And yes, I've suggested it to Apple a while ago on their suggestion/whatever page.

 

[Xultar]

umm...wayment....

...people use Siri?

 

[mknopp]

Sorry, but I don't think he is at all right about Siri, and even a cursory review should show it to be a bad move by Apple.

Voice recognition gets better with more data to work with. If Apple knowingly eliminates an entire segment of their market from this analysis, which will make the product better than they are stupid. Which, I don't believe they are. Ergo, I don't believe that the 5c will not come with Siri.

That being said, I do agree with a commentor above that he will be partly correct in that the 5c will be pushed hard in emerging markets where Siri doesn't currently have voice support and thus there will be a good portion of 5cs that will sell without Siri simply because Siri doesn't support that language.

 

[lozpop]

Apple Execs:
"We have to find a way to make the iPhone 5C worse than the iPhone 5S, because we dont have the ideas to make the iPhone 5S that much better than a cheap model."

This made me laugh a lot

 

[oliversl]

No Siri, no deal. Wasn't Apple supposed to open up Siri API instead of wasting time copying Vista GUI?

 

[wigby]

while i wouldn't put it past apple to omit a feature that is technically possible, i don't believe they would omit siri for a 5c.

apple usually cannibalizes their own products by adding new features to new flagship products, not by stripping features from lower cost ones.