Apple Further Trims iPhone 5c Production as Customers Continue to Prefer iPhone 5s

[giantfan1224]

Oh man, they don't get it, do they? They shouldn't be trimming down production of the 5C; they should be lowering its price. I recently got a new iPhone with a new contract. I was still using an old 3GS on a SIM-only contract. Now I have a 4S, as the 5C was too expensive, let alone the 5S. They really aren't getting it, I'm afraid. They could sell a ton of 5C handsets if they just lowered the price somewhat. What a shame...

Imagine how many they could sell if Apple would just accept a 0% margin!!

If you don't want to pay for the tech, and are fine with the 4S, that's ok. Don't expect Apple or any other company to give it to you for nothing, or a price YOU think they should.

 

[petsounds]

Look, people. It's very simple.

2012: iPhone 4s (16GB) - $99, iPhone 5 (16GB) - $199
2013: iPhone 5c (16GB) - $99, iPhone 5s (16GB) - $199

The iPhone 5c is just a different way of selling last year's phone. It's an IMPROVEMENT over just selling last year's phone.

Yet what, you people want Apple to sell it for cheaper. Cheaper, really. What, free? No, you can get the 4s for free. The 5c, that costs money.

 

[giantfan1224]

I know, but why did they misjudge demand so much they have to scale back production twice? Either make a premium line only, or make the lower-end one (not low end, just lower than premium) significantly cheaper. The 5c seems like a cop out.

None of us know how much they "misjudged" demand but my guess is, no matter how far off they were in their estimates, they're still making the things. It must still be worth it to keep producing them. And at a production rate that someone else mentioned would still be 29 million a year?

 

[pickaxe]

Look, people. It's very simple.

2012: iPhone 4s (16GB) - $99, iPhone 5 (16GB) - $199
2013: iPhone 5c (16GB) - $99, iPhone 5s (16GB) - $199

The iPhone 5c is just a different way of selling last year's phone. It's an IMPROVEMENT over just selling last year's phone.

Yet what, you people want Apple to sell it for cheaper. Cheaper, really. What, free? No, you can get the 4s for free. The 5c, that costs money.

Many people don't see it as an improvement. Plastic isn't everyone's cup of tea, you know, no matter how hard tech media will try to promote the idea that the 5C has some sort of extraordinary premium feel to its materials.

 

[IbisDoc]

Cut the price and not the production

They'd never sacrifice profit margin on that epic fail of a product.

 

[MacSince1985]

the fact they still have any pre iphone 4 activations is a what caught my attention. I understand buying a used phone if you are on a budget, but why a pre-4?

I was going to ask the exact opposite question. What happened to the millions of iPhone 1, 3G and 3GS out there? This is a Usage chart, not a Activation chart.

The low number of older devices may be due to the way the data was collected. According to Fiksu: "Data sampled hourly in batches of approximately 10M events from apps using the Fiksu SDK. These events include app launches, in-app purchases, and registrations, and are filtered to count unique devices. Devices using operating systems older than iOS 5 are not counted, and represent a negligible amount of total traffic."

 

[giantfan1224]

They'd never sacrifice profit margin on that epic fail of a product.

How many smartphone makers would kill for the sales volume of what you term an epic fail?

 

[KPOM]

Not sure, but I'm under the impression that we won't get the 6c until the 6s comes out, so perhaps they deliberately planned only to update the 5c every two years. For example:

2013: 5s, 5c, 4s
2014: 6, 5s, 5c
2015: 6s, 6c, 5s

If they decide to make a bigger iPhone, then the above might look a bit different, because now you've got two flagship models, the 6 and 6L (large).

It depends on what they do next year for a mid-range model. Everyone is expecting the iPhone 6 to be a significant redesign with a bigger screen (4.7" with possibly a "plus" version with a 5.5" screen). I'm sure they want to have a phone at the $549 off-contract/$99 on contract price point. Will they sell the 5s as is? Will they put the 5s internals into the 5c design ("5cs")? Will they just make a new version altogether ("iPhone 6 mini")?

 

[FrizzleFryBen]

I'm not in favor of a nanny state. No thanks.

Call it what you will. Simple disclosure of terms in ways that the average person can understand is common sense and obvious to me.

 

[VoR]

Many people don't see it as an improvement. Plastic isn't everyone's cup of tea, you know, no matter how hard tech media will try to promote the idea that the 5C has some sort of extraordinary premium feel to its materials.

'Tech Media' do a pretty good job of portraying aluminium as a premium material though

Sales have been poor quite simply because the phone is too expensive and doesn't really fit into their line-up because of this. I'm unsure if it's actually meant to be a 'cheap' model, but I am convinced that if the exact same phone in the exact same colours had been put on the market at half the price, sales and market share would have been astronomical.

As crazy as it seems, we still buy iphone 4S and ipad2 at work, I would have thought they're still doing pretty well.

 

[chrisbru]

Brilliant move by Apple. Differentiate the second-tier phone enough that people all say "well, that isn't worth saving only $100, I'll just buy a 5S."

 

[godrifle]

The iPhone 5 still looks like it's a more expensive product than the 5C. Even though the 5C is very well made and doesn't feel cheap and nasty, plastic is perceived to be a lower quality material than the aluminium and glass used for the case of the 5 and 5S.

And the colors are really gross.

 

[TMay]

It depends on what they do next year for a mid-range model. Everyone is expecting the iPhone 6 to be a significant redesign with a bigger screen (4.7" with possibly a "plus" version with a 5.5" screen). I'm sure they want to have a phone at the $549 off-contract/$99 on contract price point. Will they sell the 5s as is? Will they put the 5s internals into the 5c design ("5cs")? Will they just make a new version altogether ("iPhone 6 mini")?

Apple isn't going to give up making a 4 inch model in metal, a 6, so any larger screen model will be 6xl or something, though there will still probably be a 6c hybrid plastic/metal like the 5c.

 

[Count Blah]

Oh, yes, that last line didn't come across condescending at all, "super for them". It's like one of those people that starts out by saying "I don't mean to offend" and then go on to say something offensive.

Seems that you would take "Have a nice day" as an insult. If the 5c matches their needs perfectly, then great(what an insult!!!). For those who are choosing between the 5c and 5s, then there is no choice.

I wish there was an ignore feature.

 

[olowott]

only if they listened -

 

[derek4484]

I dont blame them

For the mere price difference of $100, no way I'd settle for the 5C either. I'd spend the extra hundred and get the 5S. For there to be a true demand for the 5C it'd have to be like $29-49 on contract vs. the 5S $199. Or maybe like $349 off contract.

 

[Count Blah]

Brilliant move by Apple. Differentiate the second-tier phone enough that people all say "well, that isn't worth saving only $100, I'll just buy a 5S."

Great for apple, poor for the consumer. Seems to be a trend at Apple these days(no user serviceable parts in the MBP, no RAM upgrade in the low end iMac, etc...). Valuing profits over the consumer can only end one way - Apple in the mid-90s

 

[Fischyboy]

Touch ID

When I held the 5c at the Apple store I would have purchased it if it had a Touch ID home button. Without it, it is too expensive and one might as go with the 5s.

 

[Benjamins]

This prove it that people are willing to pay for products and the price is not an issue.

the $100 difference is so minor considering how much the contract cost over 2 years.

 

[cyberslammer]

I don't see it as a bad thing, everyone complained that the iPhone was too expensive and they saw an opportunity to test the market to see if a cheaper version was going to succeed. Apparently the "everyone" complaining was full of it and now Apple can go back to strictly the iPhone 5S and its successors.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I kinda of believe this. The 5C takes over as the defacto "first iPhone" model that previously was held by "last years model."

If this report is true it's very telling of Tim Cook's abilities as CEO vs COO. He might be a supply chain genius but it seems he's not so good as judging demand or pricing. I'm basing this all on the report stating production got ahead of demand. I'm starting to wonder if the believed tightly constrained isn't so constrained now because the 20% higher price is scaring some impulsive consumers away.

 

[Jvanleuvan]

Perhaps Apple should judge if the 5c is a success?

Here is a theory I heard!
Last year when they released the Iphone 5 Apple reduced the cost of the 4s to $99 on contract (and $549 off contract)

If they would have continued this trend this year they would have reduced the Iphone 5 to $99 on contract (and $549 off contract).

However, the theory goes:

the Iphone 5 at $549 off contract would have two negative effects:

1) Reduced Apples profit margin too far on that phone due to the high cost of the complex case construction (all aluminum uni body, diamond polished bevels, matching only 1 out of 725 different cuts for the glass inlays, etc...)

2) Tied up the same equipment needed to make the new Iphone 5s. Currently the 5s IS ALREADY constrained. it could have been even worse if all the "Mid-range" Iphone 5 units were also being produced on the same equipment.


So what DID the Iphone 5C accomplish.

1) It kept the profit margin higher by reducing production costs of the "Mid-range" phone by dropping the expensive enclosure.

2) It moved all the "Mid-Range" phone production OFF of the already taxed assembly lines of the Iphone 5S, thus allowing for higher yields of the, even more profitable, Iphone 5S.


Of course, just a theory...

 

[dBeats]

I mean, iphone plans are already around $90 per month; why would anyone feel like saving a hundred dollars for a crappier phone is worth it?

Agreed. Most people's cell phone bill is $100 a month with a smartphone. That $1200 a year and $2400 over a contract. Why get a cheapo phone when you can pay a percentage of your total telco bill on something as great as a top of the line iPhone. Same goes for Samsung's crap. Big whoop. Save $100 and live with a miserable user experience for two years.

I think Apple just proved a point to everyone by saying, look, when we make one phone not look like last year's phone and instead make it look like a piece of candy, people will just pony up the extra dough to the get the most feature filled iPhone.

They're doing a similar thing with the iPad mini. Is it really that people want a small iPad, or that they want to pay less? With $100 between the two, the answer will pop out soon enough....

 

[xdhd350]

To be fair, let the holiday season come and go and see what the split is on user traffic and who is or who is not upgrading. Since the target market of the 5C is the consumer that doesn't need the latest and greatest, it's primed to sell the best from Black Friday through Jan, 1.

That has been my thought as well. The 5C will be the choice of many kids this holiday season. And it's pricey enough that parents didn't just rush out to buy when it was first released. It's one of those 'high dollar' ticket items that parents will spend the extra money on for their kids' holiday gift.

All the posts in here bashing the 5C as too expensive and it's actually last year's phone in a high quality plastic back, with upgraded battery and camera for the same 100 discount as the prior year model phones have been priced in years past.

 

[cambox]

Shock horror Apple get it wrong.. But hey on here its not called wrong its called genius!