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

Apple's Lower-Cost iPhone As a 'Mid-End' Device

champ01 said:
I don't get it. :confused:

Yes a crappier (cheaper) phone will boost sales. But its not like Apple need it.

I can see this only going down hill from now.


Quality, Being the Best, Performance, Pride, Thinking out of the box.
Tell me when the real Apple is back. Cause **** all these iToys if nothing better is coming!
Click to expand...

Think maybe Apple is interested in selling phones to people in non 1st world countries? Take a look at a world map, there is more than the US and Europe and for example an iphone 5 costs 883. usd off of the apple mx website. Try breaking into that market in a place where 48% of the people make about 183.00 and less us a month.
 
iWonderwhy said:
Not sure if I should jump at the 16GB Nexus 4 for $360, or wait for this rumored low-cost iPhone. I prefer my phone contract-free, and if they can hit the $400 or lower price point then I'm in.
Click to expand...

I just jumped to the Nexus 4 for the same reasons (and a bigger screen). Don't regret it at all.
 
Toltepeceno said:
Think maybe Apple is interested in selling phones to people in non 1st world countries? Take a look at a world map, there is more than the US and Europe and for example an iphone 5 costs 883. usd off of the apple mx website. Try breaking into that market in a place where 48% of the people make about 183.00 and less us a month.
Click to expand...

Just what the poor need. Cheap iPhones and a bucket of KFC finest. Just kiddin :p

I know they will sell like crazy but so will every model thats better then the previous.
They dumped the plastic MacBook so why start with cheap plastic iPhones again? That was 2007/2008 for Apple but for most high end phones of other brands like the Samsung S3 thats still a fact.
 
champ01 said:
Just what the poor need. Cheap iPhones and a bucket of KFC finest. Just kiddin :p

I know they will sell like crazy but so will every model thats better then the previous.
They dumped the plastic MacBook so why start with cheap plastic iPhones again? That was 2007/2008 for Apple but for most high end phones of other brands like the Samsung S3 thats still a fact.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's any problem with the plastic phones. We carried rifles with plastic stock's in vietnam and they have in every conflict ever since and pistols with plastic frames hold up even better than aluminum ones. I don't understand the obsession some with plastic phones, apple does not have me convinced a phone has to be aluminum to be good. Oh, aluminum is pretty cheap also and today's "Plastic" is not what it used to be. Just ask glock, s&w, XD and many other owners of "plastic" pistols.
 
Last edited:
YAWN!!!!

I'll believe it when I see it ... Apple can't even keep what they have updated, or compete against the competition, let alone bring out so called 'wonderful' new products!
 
Is that graph Worldwide or US only? As the US smartphone market is very different to the rest of the world due to how subsides operate in the US.
 
It all seems to be a product of Apple's mid-end, oops meant to say...mid-price, nah...mid-life dilemma. Yes that's it!

It can't be a mid-life crisis, because they've got billions in pocket money. They've just created the perfect tax dodge so that's no excuse...

It's got to be an identity crisis.

Caught in the cross fire of multiple legal battles, some they launched & some they did not. Yet it's an ideal outlet for their aggression.

Too bad Samsung & Google are not going out of business. That would make Apple celebrate.


Poor Apple, they've got fame, fortune & they're still... well you get the idea :D
 
hydr said:
"only 1.5-2millions" oh how the times have changed :)
Click to expand...

Who cares about user base, market share, Android vs iPhone?

Clearly at one point even the last pygmy in some jungle will have a smart phone.

Very shortly sales will only be upgrades and additional features for the must have the latest crowd (even when they don 't use them)

Hand me downs to kids and friends, plus the used market will kill the entire category.

Ony a matter of time.

So, the future business will be in the new device that kills smartphones.
 
Big Dave said:
If the iPad mini had a phone on it, then it would be all I need. I could use iPhone ear buds or a blutooth device. I have read that you can use skype or other apps to make phone calls with the mini but I would like a dedicated phone number. I would also like data plans to be cheaper.
Click to expand...

I've been looking into using Google Voice to get an iPad working just like a phone with voice and text and your own dedicated number. It seems to require a few apps to get it working, but sounds good in theory.
 
andrebismara said:
Guys stop whining! I live in Brazil and we can buy unlocked 4S here for about 1000 dollars, or else buy with 0 dollars upfront and get stuck in a 2 year contract for about 110 dollars a month! and yet I see lots of iphones everywhere! Even the 5, which wasn't release officially here, I see, and this is about 1300 dollars the 16 giga version unlocked!

Makes me wonder if I really live in an emerging country with those prices. And I also have for 1 year a 4S unlocked.

All in all I would gladly pay 350 dollars or even 400 dollars even for an iPhone 4, it would be a bargain here!
Click to expand...

You see lots of iphones everywhere where you live and shop*. Big difference. Techies come from upper income classes, and tend to have a bubble surrounding them.

Go to the countryside and let me know how many iphones you actually see.
 
damitssam said:
You see lots of iphones everywhere where you live and shop*. Big difference. Techies come from upper income classes, and tend to have a bubble surrounding them.

Go to the countryside and let me know how many iphones you actually see.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Here in mexico prices are high and you rarely see an iphone, unless you go to the best section in a big city. If I lived in a bubble in one of those areas I might think everyone in the country owned them. I might also think everyone has decent streets to drive on.;)
 
Apple's new budget offering will be very successful, I guess. They have correctly identified the market segment which they want to address. By adding color choices, I guess the device will be more attractive to youth and female segments as well (though the iphone is already very popular among young people). There are some points I consider for Apple to be important in releasing the new model:

1. Preferable name is iPhone Sport or Active. Therefore, the iPhone 5S. From this point, S will mean the mid-end model. The name Sport is based on two things: the plastic case is much more durable than glass (I know, I used 3GS). More rugged iPhone model would be great for sport activities, jogging. Another is for Speed. I believe that it will have an updated CPU, my take is that it will feature dual core A5 clocked at 1 Ghz, 1 Gb of RAM, belonging to S5L8942 (32 nm version) family with dual core graphic processor PowerVR SGX554. It will be, therefore, faster than iPad mini and have graphic power slightly less than iPhone 5/6. Therefore, it will be by far faster and more powerful than iPhone 4/4S, Nexus 4 or HTC One. I assume this based on economies of scale as this assumption means that Apple will utilize the existing technology used for recent ipad mini and AppleTV with some minor tweaks to save battery life.

2. As being slightly less powerful than iPhone 5/6, the new iPhone will have a great battery life.

3. Display: the graphic chip is powerful enough to utilize Retina display at 4 inch.
4. Lightning connection.
5. Stereo speakers.
6. 8 mp camera with panorama and HDR capacity.
7. 16 Gb of memory or 32Gb.
8. Full iOS 7 capability.
9. GPS for cellular model.
10. No LTE (not needed for most of markets now; saves battery life), saved for next iteration, but China 3G frequency-included.
11. Pricing: This model will be in the supposed price range of no-contract 350 dollars (I wrote about it few months ago).
12. Next year the new iPhone 6S will be at 350 dollar price range and current model will go down to no-contract 299 dollar price range, still being more capable than current Nexus 4.
:D
Forgot to add: what it means for Apple margin. It believe it will stay at current level, but volume of sales, market share and profits will all expand. Apple will have much much higher presence in India, Brazil and China and Europe. The model will be made in China and in Brazil.
 
Last edited:
I really don't understand what these so call analysts are talking about . A mid range iphone has been available for a long time.
Recently picked up a brand new factory unlocked white 4S 16GB for my wife for 399 including VAT ( 335 € real) the 4 goes even cheaper.
And you can easily find a 3GS brand new & unlocked for less than 199 .
Anything wrong with these "cheap" models ?
It's just like the ipad2 (outselling the 3 ). This is Apple view of mid range and it is a darn good one ... no specific costs of R&d , just rename the thing and keep counting money flowing in .
 
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