The Times of India reports that Apple is planning to re-introduce the 8 GB version of the iPhone 4 in India to combat its sluggish sales. The report states that the company hopes the even lower price of the device will help win back its share of the market, which is slipping away to competitors.
The phone would be available at a lower price than before, reportedly around ₹15,000 (about $240). Apple lost a large portion of its market share in India after phasing out the iPhone 4, which was previously one of the country’s top three phones.
In the US, Virgin Mobile has kept the venerable iPhone 4 8GB around, selling it for a measly $179 Off contract.
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Still selling in Brazil…
yup, still selling in China as well
It’d make sense for Apple to release a cheaper 8GB version of iPhone 5C when they release iPhone 6 this fall.
It’d cost Apple more to keep producing new iPhone 4 series (4/4S) than to produce a more efficient iPhone 5C.
Slow/low sales is expected as they have got the pricing wrong. iPhone 5S 16GB costs about Rs. 54,000 (~$900), where as you can get Nexus 5 32GB for about Rs. 33,000 ($550), still cheaper than 16GB 5C. As US$ appreciating, they jacked up the price by Rs.10,000 during 5S launch which is bad pricing, IMO.
seriously?..
Is flash storage really that expensive to warrant an 8GB phone being more affordable in weaker markets? I think the whole pricing model of all smartphone manufacturers needs an overhaul. 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB etc. should not be a $100 price jump at each increment.
your right, it shouldn’t be that expensive. Apple knows that people are willing to pay more for more space to keep all their stuff on the phone.
I bought a 32gb 5S this year and I regret not getting the 64GB. it was the much better value but I didn’t want to pay the extra $100 buck.
Actually, the 64GB iPhone 5S is NOT a “much better value”, at least by the english definition of “value”. Since value is, effectively, how much you get for your money. Apple’s pricing of $100 for the additional 32GB of Flash (in the 64GB model), which costs less than 2x the 32GB Flash module (which you’re already paying $100 for), in fact makes the 64GB model the LEAST good “value” as it has the highest gross margin.
Personally, I think Apple should have put 2GB of RAM into the 64GB iPhone 5S (and in the 64/`18GB iPads) to sweeten the pot. But they didn’t…so you actually got the best deal with the 32GB.
This is such a monumentally stupid decision, it defies logic. And it is Exhibit A for why Apple has lost its damned mind. They should have engineered and tested a 4C at the same time as the 5C, with the smaller, less costly screen and with 4S radios. Preferably with a reduced-cost backing manufacturing process. They likely could have gotten regulatory approval for the PAIR significantly cheaper (and many countries “piggy back” on US FCC approval) because they’d have been so similar to each other (same backing materials) or to the 4S (same radios), that they likely would not have had to pay full cost (2x) of the process. That would have allowed them a “low-cost” chassis that extended the ROI of the iPhone 4 logic board development while providing a path moving forward–they wouldn’t need to get regulatory approval to change CPU, RAM, or Flash.
But in emerging markets, the iPhone 4 chassis is too expensive to build, WAY too expensive to repair, and WAY TOO fragile. The fact that the chassis has known antenna limitations (grip of death), button problems (both Power and Home), and that a screen/digitizer/Home button repair requires complete disassembly of the phone makes it a non-starter. The gray market of working, non-broken iPhone 4’s from the US will kill anything Apple tries itself to sell.
So stupid, Tim Cook. FFS.
Jeez they better leave it at iOS 6 then. iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 is cripplingly slow and it certainly won’t bring them any returning business.
Reblogged this on Taste of Apple and commented:
I wonder how this will play out. IPhone 4 was great in 2010, but in 2014 it is pretty much on its last legs, even with iOS 7 on it. How will customers there react if the experience isn’t as top notch as they expect from a “new” iPhone?