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High-Resolution Renderings of Apple's Lower-Cost Plastic iPhone

chadley_chad said:
The thing is, it was first, now its slipping further whilst those in 3rd have come from 4th, 5th and beyond! It's not about being number one (that was always the beauty of apple, it wasn't about rankings, it was about the customer!) but with market share slipping and Apple seemingly doing nothing about it (how many iterations of the Galaxy 4S have we seen in recent months, compared to nothing from the Apple camp!), it could be too little too late as the likes of Samsung zoom past (which to be honest, is that really such a bad thing ... the public vote with their wallet!)
Click to expand...

The companies who are... or will be... outselling Apple in smartphone unit sales are doing it by selling cheap phones for $200 and below unlocked.

Hell... you can buy Android phones in China and India for as low as $80.

So that's who Apple is "losing" to?

Apple only sells mid to high-end smartphones. Even talks of this "low-cost" iPhone are giving the impression that it will still be the same price as it is today.... a starting price somewhere north of $400

And let's not forget that the bulk of Apple's phone sales are the pricier $650 and up models.

So yeah... some other company will likely sell more units than Apple... and will earn them the "1st place in unit sales" trophy. Which is meaningless in my opinion.

Remember a few months ago when Samsung was the best-selling smartphone maker with 70 million sales?

Guess how many where their flagship Galaxy S models... about 18 million. So they must be pumping out a lot of garbage phones to get that award.

Of course you can move a lot of units if the price is low... but I didn't think that was some sort of achievement.
 
Michael Scrip said:
The companies who are... or will be... outselling Apple in smartphone unit sales are doing it by selling cheap phones for $200 and below unlocked.

Hell... you can buy Android phones in China and India for as low as $80.

So that's who Apple is "losing" to?

Apple only sells mid to high-end smartphones. Even talks of this "low-cost" iPhone are giving the impression that it will still be the same price as it is today.... a starting price somewhere north of $400

And let's not forget that the bulk of Apple's phone sales are the pricier $650 and up models.

So yeah... some other company will likely sell more units than Apple... and will earn them the "1st place in unit sales" trophy. Which is meaningless in my opinion.

Remember a few months ago when Samsung was the best-selling smartphone maker with 70 million sales?

Guess how many where their flagship Galaxy S models... about 18 million. So they must be pumping out a lot of garbage phones to get that award.

Of course you can move a lot of units if the price is low... but I didn't think that was some sort of achievement.
Click to expand...

Those cheap Android phones are pretty decent quality; I even own a Nokia 820 which I think is a nicer quality phone than the 5S and it only cost me £150!

There's also nothing wrong with cheap and Apple making a low cost phone isn't going to do anything to damage their reputation or profit; besides, you can hardly call the iPhone a high end product these days when competitors like Sony, HTC, Nexus and Samsung offer higher spec phones in just as nice or better casings (which don't scratch like the 5S and have upgradable memory, wireless charging, NFC etc etc.) Good quality yes, but high end or premium ... sorry, not any more!

As for Samsung sales, 18m out of 70m might have been the S4, but how many of the 70m were Note 2's, S3's and S3 mini's ... all highly credible phones! At least Samsung have a healthy range to chose from, again unlike Apple.
 
donutbagel said:
But for some reason, a lot of people refuse to buy something that was produced a couple of years ago. The iPhone 4 isn't just low cost; it's old. There will be people who want a cheap iPhone that must be new. It doesn't really make sense because the same people would be fine buying an iMac that hasn't been refreshed for 1.5 years.
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What's the difference between a phone that is old and slow... and a phone that is new and slow?

The only things that change from model-to-model are the processor speed and cameras.

Apple has to differentiate the models somehow. And they way they did it was by keeping the older, slower model around for a couple more years... while the newest model got the faster, better parts.

Look... if you're choosing the $450 iPhone instead of the $650 iPhone... you already know you're giving something up.

So again... what's the difference between a phone that was designed a couple years ago and just happens to be slow by today's standards... and a phone that was designed to be slow compared to the current flagship model?

And then what happens next? Does Apple start designing three new phones every year? Three different processors every year so they don't put "old" parts in a phone? Three new camera modules too?

It's actually pretty smart to keep an "old" model around and make that your cheaper model... instead of spending the time and resources to develop a "new" cheaper model.

And let's be clear... an iPhone 4 purchased today is made from brand new parts... it's not some refurbished reject.

I understand your point... that people want "new" stuff. But clearly Apple has had no trouble selling "old" phones all these years.
 
I don't get why this has to be a new lower cost iPhone. Why can't it just be the next iPhone? I think this rumored design is fantastic and would happily buy it even if it was a new HIGH cost iPhone.
 
Apple make preuim products, therefore premium prices...

What are they doing here, by makng it more 'affordable' for everyone?
Similary, its like a car maker, making an exensive one, but also making a cheap of the the same model.

Does't make sense right? Maybe my example doesn't ether.

Maybe Apple is 'testing' the waters, and going to a "no longer a premium market" type.


....this could be just a start..
 
Yes cause they have moved to a "Online Store" based model and thats where they plan to make the killing. The more phones that get out, more itunes/app store users - more music/apps sold and in turn more developers building apps..eco-system complete.

Tech198 said:
Apple make preuim products, therefore premium prices...

What are they doing here, by makng it more 'affordable' for everyone?
Similary, its like a car maker, making an exensive one, but also making a cheap of the the same model.

Does't make sense right? Maybe my example doesn't ether.

Maybe Apple is 'testing' the waters, and going to a "no longer a premium market" type.


....this could be just a start..
Click to expand...
 
chadley_chad said:
Those cheap Android phones are pretty decent quality; I even own a Nokia 820 which I think is a nicer quality phone than the 5S and it only cost me £150!

There's also nothing wrong with cheap and Apple making a low cost phone isn't going to do anything to damage their reputation or profit; besides, you can hardly call the iPhone a high end product these days when competitors like Sony, HTC, Nexus and Samsung offer higher spec phones in just as nice or better casings (which don't scratch like the 5S and have upgradable memory, wireless charging, NFC etc etc.) Good quality yes, but high end or premium ... sorry, not any more!

As for Samsung sales, 18m out of 70m might have been the S4, but how many of the 70m were Note 2's, S3's and S3 mini's ... all highly credible phones! At least Samsung have a healthy range to chose from, again unlike Apple.
Click to expand...

To clarify... was your phone £150 unlocked?

If not... please refer to the unlocked price before you make any comparisons :)

Of course there are plenty of high-end phones from other companies.

My point was that high-end Android phones don't make up the bulk of Android phone sales. There were 162 million Android phones sold last quarter... how many of them were of the flagship variety? Not many.

In other words... the budget Android phones rule the roost.

You were saying Apple is losing market share and other companies are beating them. Looking strictly at unit sales... and what we know about Android phone pricing... that is true.

But Android is made of dozens of manufacturers and hundreds of models for sale today... does it really surprise you that they outsell Apple?

Now let's look at Android phones that are $450-and-up to see how they compare to Apple.
 
we once again commissioned Ciccarese Design to produce some high-quality mockups
Click to expand...

Would have been cheaper to just say you think it's going to look like a slightly thicker iPod touch
 
My only concern is where Apple is going to put the boatloads of money it's going to make off of these things.
 
I'd buy one

I don't care about the chamfered aluminum edges … it all gets scratched anyway. I also prefer the rounded edge. Unless it's a big performance let-down, I say bring it on.
 
Michael Scrip said:
What's the difference between a phone that is old and slow... and a phone that is new and slow?
Click to expand...

People see a difference. I know, it doesn't make sense. All they want is the latest thing Apple has produced. The low-end iPhone is new, but the iPhone 4 is not even if it's made today with new parts because there's an iPhone 5. Seriously, I don't know a single person who has bought a new outdated iPhone, and plenty of people I know with new iPhones could definitely benefit from saving heavily by buying the old model. I guess it's about "fashion" or something.
 
One would guess the phone will have a similar bezel to the iPhone and iPod touch - where the face plate is set slightly recessed, protected by a rubber edge. This 3d model seems to assume a kind of soap bar front plate with a soft round bevel, which I think is unrealistic.
 
Michael Scrip said:
Now let's look at Android phones that are $450-and-up to see how they compare to Apple.
Click to expand...

That would take way too much time to be worth it to me :p
But if you look at Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 4S, the 4S has a huge sales lead. Of course, the S3 has way more direct competition from Motorola, HTC, etc because they all sell similar products, so that's not a fair comparison.
 
donutbagel said:
People see a difference. I know, it doesn't make sense. All they want is the latest thing Apple has produced. The low-end iPhone is new, but the iPhone 4 is not even if it's made today with new parts because there's an iPhone 5. Seriously, I don't know a single person who has bought a new outdated iPhone, and plenty of people I know with new iPhones could definitely benefit from saving heavily by buying the old model. I guess it's about "fashion" or something.
Click to expand...

I know a few people who went for the cheaper iPhone... but I would imagine the current flagship iPhone is Apple's hottest seller by far.

The funny thing is... if people get so bent out of shape over the idea of an "old" iPhone... why don't they just buy the newest one?

Sure you gotta find a couple hundred extra dollars... but that pales in comparison to the monthly fee they will pay anyway.

But that's a story for another day :)
 
can someone plz explain why this is better than just a previous gen ifone (at a lower cost than the current gen) that has slightly less powerful hardware but can still run the most recent iOS version???
 
donutbagel said:
That would take way too much time to be worth it to me :p
But if you look at Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 4S, the 4S has a huge sales lead. Of course, the S3 has way more direct competition from Motorola, HTC, etc, so that's not a fair comparison.
Click to expand...

True... it's not really worth anyone's time... but it's fun to talk about on the internet :)
 
For people still confused, and I see there is a whole bunch of you, this is merely the iPhone 5 with a plastic casing. The aluminum bodied iPhone 5 was subject to millions of returns because of quality control issues as well as folks returning them upon delivery for minor scuffs and scratches. This is all well documented.
So as the iPhone 5s approaches, there was no way in hell they were going to continue offering the outgoing iPhone 5 with that same costly return prone CNC milled aluminum body for a discount. Was not going to happen.
Got it? Good.
It's a smart move and it's going to make Apple a boatload of money off of this thing. Tim Cook is going to be able to keep all of his salary because of it too.
 
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ThatsMeRight said:
I actually really like the 'lower-cost' iPhone. It seems to have all the key features people want, but with the same old iPhone 3GS-like design.

I love it. And I am an iPhone 5 owner.
Click to expand...

I have to admit it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Except for that horrendous Safari icon, of course.
 
I like. It goes well with iOS 7.

If it had top-of-the-line specs and more than 16GB (which it may), I'd definitely consider it.
 
bobbytallant said:
Everyone prepare to see these renderings used again and again for the next several months on here ;)
Click to expand...

Well it could be worse. Remember when we had to see this one over and over?

gizmodo_chen_iphone_4_prototype-500x280.jpg
 
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