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iPhone 5s Outsells iPhone 5c by ~3.5x in Launch Weekend According to Analytics Data

applesith said:
Right, Apple doesn't need to offer a cheaper phone to drive record breaking launch sales.

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Not necessarily. Consumers aren't looking for low priced devices if they are considering Apple.
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80% of consumers, or at least from what I've seen in the UK, are price driven. They don't consider Apple not because of iOS, but because of the price.

If it was on par with a mid-level Android handset, I'd think they'd sell a lot more. Obviously may be different in US due to more expensive contracts and more heavily subsidised pricing.
 
Wow, this is counter intuitive, and not what I thought was going on. I saw this going the other way entirely. I thought price driven (and color driven) buyers would push 5C to the top, and the 5S would be well behind.

9 million is a lot of units, and stomps the 5 release. To that user I made a bet with- I was wrong! You called it correct!
 
cube said:
Yes, I am saying that the 4 is still a more desirable phone than the 5C.
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I had a 4S - the 5C is a much better phone (faster, bigger screen). On a pure design basis, the 4S is "more desirable" than the 5, 5C and 5S (it's the best deisgned Apple product ever IMO), but that doesn't mean it is a better phone
 
My wife has iPhone 4 and will be getting 5c in a couple weeks. After the initial hype is over, I bet the 5c will start to gain on the 5s over time...
 
downpour said:
It wasn't cheap enough.

The difference between the 5c and 5s is negligible. Why would you buy a phone with last year's tech, unless there is some benefit in doing so, like the price...

Also the colours are pretty horrible. Only the white one would be subtle enough for most normal people.
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This kind of post cracks me up. We have one group of people all crying that the 5S is barely an incremental upgrade and that it certainly wouldn't be worth it for someone who had a 5 to upgrade, and another batch complaining about why you would pay half as much for a phone that is las't year's tech.

As has been said, how is this any different than if they had not introduced the 5C and just discounted the 5? That's what they did with every other launch. But everyone had it in their heads (thanks to all the bogus rumors) that Apple would make a cheap phone.
 
Adelphos33 said:
I had a 4S - the 5C is a much better phone (faster, bigger screen). On a pure design basis, the 4S is "more desirable" than the 5, 5C and 5S (it's the best deisgned Apple product ever IMO), but that doesn't mean it is a better phone
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Of course the specs are lower, but it is still more desirable design wise.

The 5C is not desirable enough for the price, the 5 would fare better.
 
Maybe He Knew

It seems Steve Jobs knew what he was doing. Laser focus your efforts on one product. Maybe the 5C will sell better in emerging markets, but I doubt it.
 
Understandable, given it costs almost as much for last year's technology, but if they had the same innards I'd be buying the C, hell, even if it cost more. Man it looks nice.
 
cube said:
Of course the specs are lower, but it is still more desirable design wise.

The 5C is not desirable enough for the price, the 5 would fare better.
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No, I don't think the iPhone 5 would have sold 2-3 million units this weekend, which is what the iPhone 5C sold, mainly because Apple would have had no way to market it... Not even close, really.
 
Breaking: Forum posters on a niche technology site don't like phone targeted at general consumer.
 
Adelphos33 said:
No, I don't think the iPhone 5 would have sold 2-3 million units this weekend, which is what the iPhone 5C sold, mainly because Apple would have had no way to market it... Not even close, really.
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It doesn't matter what it sells in the first weekend, but in total.
 
The total cost of the 5c with the cheapest AT&T contract is 95% of the total cost of the 5s with the same contract.

People buying the 5c aren't "budget conscious", they either fail at math and economics or they prefer to get a permanent plastic cover instead of having to buy one for the 5s.
 
applesith said:
Higher priced phone is more popular? More evidence pointing to why Apple does not need to make a "cheap" phone.
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The 5S is a little pricey for a new, flagship phone, but, not by that much.

The 5C, on the other hand, is very expensive compared to the similar Samsung phones that are a step down. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, unlocked.

I have to admit that I was disappointed by the 5C pricing. I need a new phone, and, the 5S (unlocked, of course) is too expensive for me right now. But, so is the 5C.
 
cube said:
It doesn't matter what it sells in the first weekend, but in total.
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Both the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will sell more over the next year than the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S sold over the past year. That's year over year growth, which is good for Apple.
 
Adelphos33 said:
Both the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will sell more over the next year than the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S sold over the past year. That's year over year growth, which is good for Apple.
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We are not talking about the flagship.
 
I believe Apple did breakdown the distribution of sales last quarter and it was 50% iPhone 5 and 50% for the 4 & 4S combined. I don't know if they have always done this, but the consensus seemed to be that the newest iPhone was getting a decreasing share of the overall iPhone sales.

This was pressuring Apple's margins because they have their highest margin on the newest phone and it decreases significantly for the phones sold at the lower cost points.

IMO, the repackaging of the 5 into the 5C serves 2 purposes. First, it increases margins at the $99 subsidized cost point because plastic is less expensive to produce. But maybe even more importantly it removes the flagship look and feel from the $99 cost point. Apple would rather you buy the 5S because it has the best margin and I think they feared that many customers wouldn't perceive a difference between the phones and would opt for the lower-margin 5. Their solution; ax the 5 and wrap it is garish plastic. If you absolutely want a $99 iPhone there's still one there for you, but push the market back to the flagship and its higher margins.

I think the 5C is clearly designed to address subsidized margin erosion. It serves little purpose in a market like China. In China the 5C isn't half the cost of the 5S, its something like 85% of the cost. Don't know why anyone would buy one.
 
Adelphos33 said:
Both the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will sell more over the next year than the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S sold over the past year. That's year over year growth, which is good for Apple.
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How will you know? Apple doesn't releases sales numbers other than for the first couple of days.
 
cube said:
No, the 4S is still a premium phone whose unique design can still be preferred to the 5 by late adopters.

The 5C is well built, but not premium, and the savings only go to Apple.
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Wait, so a plastic back means the 5c is not a "premium phone" while the slower 4S with older technology, no LTE, and a smaller screen is still a "premium phone"?

Does that mean Apple did not sell any "premium phones" in 2008/2009 (The 3G and 3GS had plastic back, which seem cheaper than the 5c's)

The iPhone 5c is just an iPhone 5 repackaged. It did not become a worse phone.
 
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