Apple Reportedly Cutting iPhone 5c Production as Chinese Gray Market Prices Drop

[NoneOfYourB]

Stop it already

Every time someone says 150.000 iPhone 5c a day indicates low sales,
someone at motorola is crying...

 

[FirstNTenderbit]

How do you come to that conclusion? I didn't say anything about correlation. I explained that revenue from software etc. is less than revenue from hardware. For it to be higher, the price of software would have to be higher than the price of the hardware.

I'm sorry, I just don't get that explanation from this:

"Common sense: If someone pays $600 for an iPhone, how much is that person going to pay for software, books, music? Hint: Less than $600."

I could be wrong, and have been often. Ask my wife.

I read it as you and Nightarchaon debating the merits of transactional profit (iPhone) vs residual profit (App ecosystem). Immediate profit vs profit over time. I still don't get your math but that's my problem not yours.

 

[elgrecomac]

Well..

I don't get why anyone would buy this cheap-looking expensive phone when the 5s is just $100 more. Seriously, if you can afford 5c then you can afford the 5s. 5s is sooo much better.

But the 5C is an unapologetically plastic version of the old iphone 5. What better way to consume excess inventory that encasing it in an, unapologetically, plastic case and then market the crap out of it as "new and improved" like a box of Wheaties.
Or buy a 5s, which is faster, better in every way and do what iphone buyers have been doing for years now: buy an inexpensive unapologetically plastic cover!

 

[axonic labs]

Many possible reasons for cut

If the iPhone 5C production was indeed cut, these are other possible reasons:
1. Shifting production to iPhone 5S
2. Shifting production to upcoming iPad and iPad Mini
3. Shifting production to some new product
4. Built enough for the initial launch and adjusting to steady state
5. Anything else I didn't/couldn't think of

 

[croooow]

But the 5C is an unapologetically plastic version of the old iphone 5. What better way to consume excess inventory that encasing it in an, unapologetically, plastic case and then market the crap out of it as "new and improved" like a box of Wheaties.
Or buy a 5s, which is faster, better in every way and do what iphone buyers have been doing for years now: buy an inexpensive unapologetically plastic cover!

And take a look around your home, car and office and if you pay attention you will see some form of plastic in so many items (cheap and expensive!) and even more if you look under the hood or behind you walls and floors!

People need to stop being snobs regarding the plastic phone back.

 

[iChrist]

Not really trying to convince anyone, just inform.

It's like someone going "Ew, gross, Pizza is disgusting!"

"Have you ever eaten pizza?"

"No, it just looks gross."

Same situation with the 5c. I would guess (I have no data to back this up) that alot of people that are shittalking the phone have never even put their hands on one.

But that's the problem with alot of products across multiple industries. Nintendo is another one. A lot of folks like to shittalk the Wii U, but the majority of those shittalkers have likely never even played the thing.

Your opinion that the 5C is a good product is just as valid as someone else's opinion to the contrary. So I don't know what you are talking about.

I held the phone. It feels fine. Doesn't change the fact that it is a complete rip-off compared to the 5S (processor, build, camera, m7 chip, fingerprint). I mean, c'mon. What educated consumer would buy the 5C?



.

 

[cube]

But the black on your black/slate iPhone 5 (or the black parts of the space grey 5s) do reflect light. They are not "pure black" or the absence of light.

duh

 

[jlnr]

This has been a rare failure by Apple. I can't see why they didn't see this coming. They need to come off their high horse.

I don't know or care if it's a failure. But it's curious when people who predict that the 5c will be a huge success don't actually use one (prominent example: Gruber).

Data from mixpanel matches the fiksu link from above: https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/iphone_models

 

[kunai]

The 5c is defiantly going to beat the 5s in popularity. /sarcasm

The 5c is going to defy the 5s? What? It's going to stand up to the 5s?

Defiantly... I don't think it means what you think it means. Look it up in Webster's.

I assume you meant "definitely," which fits within context.

You have just ruined my day. I have not been able to go a single day without having to correct someone because they never paid attention to their 4th grade spelling and grammar teacher.

So thanks. Thanks for nothing!

 

[Compile 'em all]

It seems bizarre that Apple wouldn't know about such a thing before releasing the 5c.

 

[dru`]

i still haven't moved to a smartphone ... having seen and felt the 5c in blue, i was disappointed. i'd prefer the 4S or a 5 in white. maybe the 5c in white is ok but the face is still black so i don't know if that would give me what i want. the 5s is a lovely phone.

as said above, the 5c color options are very female friendly. too much so.

what i wish apple had done for the 5c's design is given us a cellular iPod Touch ... those are quite beautiful and the colors are rich and vibrant.

 

[croooow]

duh

Tell that to the people who think a black iPhone 5c would have no color

----------

It seems bizarre that Apple wouldn't know about such a thing before releasing the 5c.

wouldn't know what?

----------

i still haven't moved to a smartphone ...

Last time I walked into a mobile phone store it was hard to find a phone that wasn't a "smartphone"

 

[dru`]

But the 5C is an unapologetically plastic version of the old iphone 5. What better way to consume excess inventory that encasing it in an, unapologetically, plastic case and then market the crap out of it as "new and improved" like a box of Wheaties.
Or buy a 5s, which is faster, better in every way and do what iphone buyers have been doing for years now: buy an inexpensive unapologetically plastic cover!

what excess inventory? the phone's innards are not identical to the 5... different battery, different front facing camera, differently machined structural parts, different LTE bands...

 

[Taipan]

It's tempting to say that this is Apple's own fault, considering their iPhone 5c prices. But knowing the Chinese, would you really expect the situation to be different if it were 100$ or 200$ cheaper - or any amount?

 

[lpoulain]

Fact: iPhone 5C looks cheap
Fact: iPhone 5C is not cheap to purchase
Fact: iPhone 5C is an EXTREMELY poor value proposition compared to the 5S

.

Fact? Nope. Opinion.
How in the world do you come to the conclusion that the 5c is a poor value proposition? Would you say the same if this year had been like previous, and it was the 5 was $99 on contract?

i have a 5, which I love. I dropped into an Apple Store last week just to touch a 5c. It feels very nice in the hand, the phone feels solid, rigid and sturdy. It's as good a value proposition as the 5 in my pocket, and better for those who like the color.

 

[croooow]

what excess inventory? the phone's innards are not identical to the 5... different battery, different front facing camera, differently machined structural parts, different LTE bands...

I do not know about the inventory that Apple had on the iPhone 5 components leading to the 5c, but most of the "innards" are identical (I think you named the parts that were changed)

 

[neoelectronaut]

Your opinion that the 5C is a good product is just as valid as someone else's opinion to the contrary. So I don't know what you are talking about.

I held the phone. It feels fine. Doesn't change the fact that it is a complete rip-off compared to the 5S (processor, build, camera, m7 chip, fingerprint). I mean, c'mon. What educated consumer would buy the 5C?



.

I have no issue with someone not liking the 5c.

I do personally believe that calling it "cheap" is a bit extreme, however.

 

[tongxinshe]

2 important points:
- how is that a Phone made in China is 200 US$ more expensive than in the US? 550 US$ in US, 750 en China?

You don't get it. It's not $550 in the US, on average it's about $600. In California, where Apple is, it's more than $600 cross board.

On the other hand, it's not really $750 in China, it's $730+. Among that $130 difference, half comes from the import duty (though ironically they are mostly assembled in China, they are still considered imported products since Apple is a US company), the other half comes from the safety extra Apple adds on top to guard itself against the exchange rate fluctuation, the extra cost caused by local law related warranty requirements, etc. Apple does that in Australia and Europe as well.

 

[sulpfiction]

This has been a rare failure by Apple. I can't see why they didn't see this coming. They need to come off their high horse.

I only wish my company "failed" over the last 2 months like apple did.

 

[cube]

Fact? Nope. Opinion.
How in the world do you come to the conclusion that the 5c is a poor value proposition? Would you say the same if this year had been like previous, and it was the 5 was $99 on contract?

i have a 5, which I love. I dropped into an Apple Store last week just to touch a 5c. It feels very nice in the hand, the phone feels solid, rigid and sturdy. It's as good a value proposition as the 5 in my pocket, and better for those who like the color.

The 5 is premium build.

The 5c is just a quality plastic phone.

So, the 5c is less value than the 5 at the same price.

 

[croooow]

I don't know or care if it's a failure. But it's curious when people who predict that the 5c will be a huge success don't actually use one (prominent example: Gruber).

I did not know he ever talked about the iPhone

 

[BaldiMac]

I mean, c'mon. What educated consumer would buy the 5C?

An educated consumer that had a limited budget and whose smartphone needs were met by the iPhone 5C.

 

[tongxinshe]

I love the fact that people forgot that Apple made iPhone with plastic backs for 2 years (3G and 3GS) and no one complained it was "cheap" but praised the 3G for being half the price of the original iPhone (compared the 2 year contract/lower price right before the 3G came out, so less than half of the original price in June 2007)

Time have changed. When Apple released iPhone 3G and 3GS, Apple's system is far far superior to any other smartphones on the market, so people can easily neglect this material aspect. Nowadays, there are so many different smartphones on the market that are at very similar height, the small differences created by the materials are no longer negligible.

 

[mac00l]

The iPhone 5 sold around 89 million units. So a 108 million iPhone 5C sounds like a risk-free number for a device meant to be popular.

Now production will be below the 60 million units, provided it keeps with that production until the end.

This is the first time that Apple is cutting production of a device before a cycle change. And if any of you know about economic of scales, it doesn't make sense to cut production a month after initial rollout, that is why production starts ahead of initial rollout. Otherwise all corporations would start selling from production day 1, and reduce production as demand decrease. It simply doesn't work that way.

When you cut on production, it only means that your product is not selling as expected and you rather lose money cutting production, than having your product on shelves which would cost you even more (ask blackberry about that).

There are people that like the 5C, but truth being said is the vast minority. Up so far I've seen a couple of 5S in the wild, but no 5C. Not even in college, which is the market that they are "targeting".

Remember Nokia and Blackberry. It only takes 2 or 3 flops to say goodbye to prime time and slowly fall into oblivion.

 

[croooow]

The 5 is premium build.

The 5c is just a quality plastic phone.

So, the 5c is less value than the 5 at the same price.

They make soda cans from aluminum as well. Are they premium products?