During today’s earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the iPhone 5c was the most popular choice among new iPhone users. However, the colorful new lower-end device did not meet the company’s expectations in sales. Despite the fact that iPhone 5s sales came in above Apple’s target, the iPhone category overall significantly missed analysts’ projected sales mark of 55 million units.
It’s likely that Apple misjudged the low-end smartphone market here, believing that users would jump at the chance for a “new” iPhone at a lower price than usual. Smartphone shoppers don’t seem to be taking the bait, instead opting for the more expensive, more “premium” 5s or going elsewhere. It’s hard to say they’re making the wrong call, considering that the iPhone 5c is actually much closer in specs to the previous generation than it is to the latest model, which seems to be more than worth its $100 premium.
Apple has long been aiming to get iPhones into the hands of more and more customers. The device is available not only on every major U.S. carrier, but many pre-paid providers as well—a critical market in and of itself. However, simply putting the relatively low-cost iPhone 5c on a pre-paid carrier may not be enough to attract a significant number of pre-paid subscribers. The reason? Many pre-paid customers aren’t looking to spend upwards of $500 on a cell phone when much cheaper Android handsets are available.
The iPhone 5c seems like a failed experiment intended to help capture a larger segment of the low-end smartphone market. While it may be attractive for most first-time buyers, the iPhone’s popularity can hardly be attributed solely to this one model. If the 5c disappeared tomorrow, there would certainly be some off-put consumers who would opt for cheaper competing models, but there’s also a large number of users who would just buy a 5s instead.
According to Strategy Analytics, Apple’s absence from the low-end mobile market (and lack of an iPhone with a larger screen) contributed to the company’s stunted mobile growth in 2013:
Apple shipped a record 153.4 million mobile phones worldwide in 2013, up from 135.8 million in 2012. However, Apple’s growth rate moderated from 46 percent in 2012 to just 13 percent during 2013. Apple’s lack of presence in the low-end smartphone segment and the big-screen phablet category are costing the firm sizeable volumes.
There are already rumors that Apple is preparing a larger iPhone to help combat this issue, but it seems future plans don’t include the iPhone 5c. While it’s widely believed that Apple needs a serious contender in the low-end smartphone market, it appears the iPhone 5c doesn’t have the appeal required to be that device.
Overall the iPhone 5c hasn’t helped capture the market for which it was intended. Even with the heavy marketing push that accompanied its launch, it certainly didn’t drive enough iPhone sales this quarter to reach Apple’s own estimates. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple take a step back from the low-end line in the coming year to place more focus on its flagship model.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
£80 is worth paying for the 5S instead of the 5C, really don’t understand why Apple thought it needed the 5C at all, nor why anyone would buy one.
Place a 1 in front if that number… $180 less than the 5s and suddenly the 5c looks far more attractive and competitively priced. Perhaps it’s time for apple to consider skinny margins for entry level devices.
“Apple take a step back from the low-end line in the coming year to place more focus on its flagship model.” Why? The failure of 5c should mean Apple should pay more attention on how to do mid-tier. One year, 2 year, even 3 year old models are not the solution, nor is wrapping a cheaper material onto a one year model and make it bulkier. Also the colors are a little too childish for mass appeal.
Great question.
Rumors already exist that Apple will be ditching the 5c in the coming product cycle due to low interest. I’m updating the post with a link to the article on that topic.
That article doesn’t exactly say that the 5c will be scrapped. It says no NEW iPhone will be released with a plastic case. They could still release two new iPhone 6 models and keep the 5c around as an entry-level iPhone.
>>One year, 2 year, even 3 year old models are not the solution
No, they’re explicitly the solution. Multiple years of it working swimmingly prove that.
>>Also the colors are a little too childish for mass appeal.
That’s utter nonsense.
I got the 5s and actually wish I got the 5c. The hardware is plenty fast and it’s a hundred bucks cheaper, and I like the colors
The iPhone 5C was a silly move for apple, because they are a greedy company. It’s the iPhone 5, in plastic priced the same. That’s just stupid. People are clearly gonna get the iPhone 5S instead, and they should. If the iPhone 5C would have brought something other than plastic, and colors it would have done very well. The price could have been about $300 to $379 at full, people would buy them like crazy as an entry level iPhone.
>>because they are a greedy company.
Just shut up and go away.
>>It’s the iPhone 5, in plastic priced the same.
Except it wasn’t priced the same.
>>People are clearly gonna get the iPhone 5S instead, and they should.
Just like every other iPhone release ever. Except you morons didn’t whine about it then. You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
Wow you sound really immature, and,based on your comment…i think so. Go take your meds, and find a friend. You need one bad.
So you have no rebuttal whatsoever, then. Good to know. When you do, feel free to show how I’m wrong.
Who are you? YOU go away. You give Apple users a bad name. I would not be surprised if you’re a Google employee that is here intentionally to make Apple users look like, well like you. I’m a certified Apple Consultant, member of the Apple Consultant’s Network. Apple is my livelihood. Please, leave this site in peace.
It’s a little strange that you’d have such idiotic and incorrect viewpoints if this is actually the case.
Don’t you think?
It IS priced the same. The iPhone 5 was easily found for $100 (w/ contract) at the time of the release of the 5c. And when you consider the fact that the internals were identical, and yet the external was actually cheaper (plastic vs the aluminum) I’d have to agree that it was a greedy move.
>> The iPhone 5 was easily found for $100 (w/ contract) at the time of the release of the 5c.
No, see, that’s not how it works. First, it’s not the case. Second, the iPhone 5C sold for the same as the iPhone 4S the entire year prior.
Because it was last year’s phone.
Because that’s what Apple does with last year’s phone.
Because it was never anything other than last year’s phone.
Because any belief otherwise was invented.
You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. How do you know the case was cheaper? It was completely reengineered. Plastics are more expensive than metals when you use the right ones.
Wow, you must be really frustrated. Seems to me that “no arguments”… are the best arguments you have.
>>“no arguments”… are the best arguments you have.
In making yourself look like an idiot, sure. So when you have any rebuttals, feel free to post them. Until then, screw the lies.
It’s quite possible people didn’t want to be associated with what they perceived to be a lower class toyish looking device that doesn’t portray the luxury branding Apple has built over the years.
Tale of Two Iphones – A House Divided
http://jltechword.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/tale-of-two-iphones-a-house-divided/#more-16
“Let the class wars begin. In Charles Dickens popular novel, A Tale of Two Cities, we are presented with a powerful picture of the affects of the disparity between the classes. We see clearly how when there is one class that perceives itself above another, there is division and contention. With the introduction of the Iphone 5c alongside the flagship 5s Apple is giving birth to two classes of iphone users. Apple has a problem…” continue reading…http://jltechword.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/tale-of-two-iphones-a-house-divided/#more-16
The problem here is that the 5C feels like a cheap iPhone, they should have come up with something that felt new and different, somehow when I look at it I don’t see an iPhone, it looks like a Samsung copy, or an after thought, I have tried to like it, but I don’t, not really.
That’s your opinion. To me it doesn’t feel cheap at all. In fact when I first held one it felt more like ceramic than plastic to me.
I agree it doesn’t feel “cheap”, but it doesn’t quite feel “premium” either, which most iPhones did up until the 5c. In fact, the 5th generation iPod touch feel more premium than the 5c and is quite colorful too; maybe that kind of design would have worked better?
>>the 5C feels like a cheap iPhone
Thanks for confirming you’ve never held or even seen one.
Looks like you are just scouting out others comment to bash them, go find yourself please. Hurry.
Yeah, I tend not to like to let pure lies stand.
If you have any proof that what I’m saying is wrong, you would have posted it already.
I think you should be clear that the 55M was not Apple’s estimate, it was Wall Street’s. Apple met or exceeded their guidance. And the way they’re guiding these days is much more realistic than in the past.
People probably didn’t want to be identified with a device perceptively lower class toyish looking device that didn’t portray the luxury “brand” that Apple labored to build over the years.
Tale of Two Iphones – Let the Class Wars Begin
Let the class wars begin. In Charles Dickens popular novel, A Tale of Two Cities, we are presented with a powerful picture of the affects of the disparity between the classes. We see clearly how when there is one class that perceives itself above another, there is division and contention. With the introduction of the Iphone 5c alongside the flagship 5s Apple is giving birth to two classes of iphone users. Apple has a problem.
Branding is everything. Well if not everything then it is certainly hugely important to the perception and adoption of a product by the masses. Apple is the branding king.
Even in a reality where the Curpertino company offered a product that lacked many key features of the market leaders at the time of the introduction of the original iphone, Steve jobs made an undisputed case that the iPhone was an elite, game changing product that everyone that was anyone must have. Granted its form factor and UI were indeed revolutionary and supported many of Apples claims. It did, however, have some basic shortcomings such as no voice interaction, no mms messaging, no video recording, few apps and a few other missing capabilities that the likes of Windows Mobile(Microsoft’s mobile OS at the time) had been sporting.
Despite these shortcomings Apple developed and promoted a brand that communicated to the masses that if you have an iPhone you are in the in-crowd, the mobile toting upper crust. That image-that brand- desired by many, took hold. IPhones began appearing everywhere. The yearly release of the next iteration of this magical device is almost a holiday unto itself for the Apple faithful.
Apple has prided itself on ensuring that the iPhone itself reflects the sleek, elitist image the brand exudes. The aluminum glass casing, the almost imperceptible weight in hand, the modest presence an almost seamless extension of the users own appendages. The subtle, business ready colors. The introduction of the singular physical manifestation of the companies brand each year consistently reinforced, and reestablished the upper class branding of the iPhone. To posess the iPhone meant, according to Apples deliberate branding methodology, was to belong to the single group of smartphone owners who were part of an elite class, possessing the singular object of manufacturing beauty and luxury design. Yes the iPhones design exuded physically the image of the elitist branding Apple successfully established in the smartphone industry. Well, until now.
Branding is everything. Well if not everything then it is certainly hugely important to the perception and adoption of a product by the masses. The iPhone 5c is not the iPhone. Well its not the iPhone that Apple has established as a brand for the past seven years. The brand to which it has recruited millions of faithful acolytes who have envisioned themselves as part of the smartphone elite upper crust. The plastic colorful pastel body of the iPhone 5c is in sharp contrast to what Apple has branded as the sleek sophisticated modest design of the glass and aluminum iPhone. Is plastic or color inherently less high end? I would have to argue “no”. Just look at the exquisite unibody polycarbonate designs employed in Nokia’s Lumia phone flagship devices. They are built to high standards and branded and marketed as such.
Apple’s problem is with their branding of the iPhone over the years and their extolling the merits of their glass and aluminum design as superior and of higher quality than the competition. They have deliberately and proactively criticized the quality of smartphones designed that employ plastic. Yet they have now introduced, alongside their premium glass and aluminum flagship(the 5s), the iPhone 5c which in the words of Apple’s Jony Ives is “unapologetically plastic.” They are further branding the device as being of lower quality than their primary iPhone by communicating to the masses that this is their budget iPhone. A device for those who can’t afford the “real” iPhone. The branding king has stamped an image upon their devices of Premium and Budget.
This presents a problem for Apple. Owning an iPhone use to mean being singularly united under one Apple created banner, with all other iPhone owners, as possessing the device that gave access to the smartphone bearing upper crust. This is no longer true. Apple has created two classes of iPhone owners. The haves, those who can afford the “real” iPhone and the have not’s those who can only afford the less capable, playfully colorful budget model.
In previous years, last years iphone model continued to be offered as an older model of a premium device, now that older model is repackaged and re-branded, by the branding king, as a playfully, colorful budget device. If the cover is Apples branding, the plastic body and the pastel colors, then the iPhone 5c will be judged by its cover, and the 5c holders will be judged by their phone.
Yes it is true that the iPhone 5c internally is last years premium iPhone 5 in plastic and pastel pajamas. But again…branding. Apple via Tim Cook’s new duo identity approach is branding the iPhone 5c as a budget device and dressing it as such. And again Apple is the branding king. Though ironically the $99 and $199 price tags are only $100 cheaper than the premium units, the rebranding is problematic.
One may contend that the likes of Nokia with its Lumia line has employed the use of polycarbonate and distinct colors. Additionally one may proffer that Nokia/Microsoft offers devices across the spectrum, from the low end (Lumia 520) to their premium flagship devices(41 Megapixel Lumia 1020) sporting their touted single slab of durable polycarbonate which is inherently colored throughout reducing the occurrence and appearance of damage. If companies such as Nokia, whose device build and design quality is respected in the industry and among consumers, can use and promote polycarbonate plastic and colorful designs across varying price points without being ill-perceived, why can’t Apple?
Branding. Branding is everything. Well if not everything then it is certainly hugely important to the perception and adoption of a product by the masses. Nokia has branded their devices as possessing a high quality particularly because of the materials it uses. The company promotes the unibody polycarbonate design heavily and uses its deep brightly colored devices in television spots, and internet and print marketing to promote its flagship devices. Branding. Apple- the branding king has branded it’s plastic and colorful phone as it’s budget phone. Placed beside its aluminum silver, grey and gold flagship counterpart, the plastic pastel colored 5c is promoted as the lesser of the two.
For years Apple has had a laser focus on promoting a single premium brand image; yet this year the company has deviated from the course established by the hugely influential and successful Steve Jobs by now distracting from its well established brand by offering “the real iPhone” that is branded in our minds, and its cheaper to make plastic budget counterpart. Apple has created within its own ecosystem two classes. Something that existed previously only outside of its kingdom, through their successful branding, Apple has established a foundation within its own realm for the haves and the have not’s.
This new dichotomy will create a new dynamic within the iPhone carrying crowd. Those able to afford the premium 5s will of course belong to the elite group, while their less financially capable ostentatiously obvious compatriots, thanks to the bright colors of their particular brand of iphone, will belong to the smartphone peasantry. As we know people of course can be cruel. How long before we hear of teens enduring cracks about their “fisher price” iPhones slung at them by their aluminum and glass iPhone bearing peers. Or what exec would dare pull the Apple budget device, branded with it’s pastel coloring from his jacket pocket at the board meeting. Or how long before creative names such as “icheap”, or “icantafford” begin to surface in reference to the iPhone 5c class? It won’t be long before associations such as “toy phone” or “fisher price” phone begin to emerge, particularly due to the pastel coloring combined with Apples deliberate budget branding. Supported by the fact that it will likely be the younger less affluent demographic in markets like the US, that the 5c will be more popular among, the image of the youthful less sophisticated, less financially capable will be reinforced. As we all know, it will likely also be among this group where scenarios where failure to wear the name brand sneakers, or jeans ostracizes you, that the “real iPhone carrying” class will exercise their voice to ensure that their pastel pimping peers recognize their lesser status.
It may take some time, but this new dynamic within the Apple ecosystem, created by its current duo identity will slowly erode its brand. Tim Cook will have done within Apple what Samsung and Microsoft/Nokia, through innovation, have been slowly doing from without. With Apples new duo identity it will no longer bear the singular elitist image. As the Bastille was stormed in the Tale of Two Cities, effectively destroying the elite aristocracy by the lower class peasentry; Apples new duo class system will destroy its elitest image and erode the brand that has been established. With the image gone the faithful who prided themselves in bearing the Apple label will find that that quality image has disappated. And of course to many image is everything.
Without the branding and image as a strong enticement it will be more challenging for Apple to maintain a committed audience willing to forego technological advancements in the highly competitive arena where other companies have in reality surpassed Apple in certain areas, such as Nokia with mobile photography and super-sensitive screens and Samsung with its eye tracking and touchless interaction.
It may not happen over night, but the divergent roads that Apple has embarked upon will undoubtedly erode its brand.
It is almost certain that Steve Jobs would never have endorsed this course.
In a post Steve Jobs Apple, a Tim Cook Apple, we now have two classes of iPhone users. And as the scripture says a house divided…well you know the rest.
You’re forgetting that many people willingly slap cheap nasty plastic cases upon their aluminum cases to protect them from an otherwise controversial choice of materials (undoubtedly an alloy would’ve been tougher than raw aluminium). Thereby masking the premium 5s’ appearance and brand, in doing so, leveling the playing field.
It is true that people do indeed cover thier phones often with unattractive sometimes bulky covers, good point. Something I’ve thought about mostly with regards to Apples and tech reviewers persistent accolades to how “light” the iPhone is in comparison to the competition, additionally as you point out how sleek and premium it is, yet now in real real use made noticeably heavier, MUCH bulkier, and my God, those otter boxes and other suits of armor, far less aesthetically appealing.
However, often status is in the mind, “yes my luxurious, more expensive, sleek apple iPhone is covered in this bulky heavy case, (ahhhh a testimony of it’s delicate exquisite design) but I’m part of the elite group that has one,” is the mind of some. If they somehow recognize the 5c in the wild, which “may” be less likely concealed(or only partially concealed in contrast to the full covering toted by its higher end brother) because the showing of the colors is part of Apples selling point(as denoted by the rubber Swiss chesse rainbow of options of protective covers launched alongside the 5c) and likely the desire of 5c users as well to show the colors, then the upper class iPhone 5sers with their bumper clad 5s’es, negligent of the real world appeal of their plastic clad devices, cognizant primarily of their “presumed” higher class due to thief mere position of the device, may indeed not perceive a leveled playing field and may persist in raising a snooty nose to thier “perceived” lesser iPhone 5c toting brethren.
I think that there’s nothing wrong with the iphone 5c device. It’s a typical apple product in terms of quality and finish. About it being an old device in a new casing, one should consider the fact that apple has until now not hesitated to use old parts in new devices, like the A5 chip in the iphone 4S, ipod touch 5th gen and ipad mini 1, and nobody has ever complained about it. So let’s see it that way that the 5c has the A6 chip as well as some other parts that’s similar to the 5. It is not much different to those other devices with old chips.
That being said I think the problem with the 5c is only that it is not well priced compared to the 5s. Who will not pay $100 to get a much more powerful device along with great features like touchID. I really think that a wider gap in price compared to the 5s, would have made the 5c much more successful. Perhaps $500 would have been an appropriate price.
The iPhone 5 was released in the fall of 2012. With the major jump to 64-bit CPUs, I think buyers have gotten smarter and wanted to make sure that their next device wouldn’t be so quickly outdated as their 4/4S has been. If Apple made the price difference $150 instead of $100, not to mention losing those silly Croc-looking cases, it would’ve sold better.
This article is wrong in every major aspect. The author needs to go back and actually listen to what Tim Cook actually said about the iPhone 5c:
1. The iPhone 5c, as the mid-tier option, is outselling the iPhone 4S at the same point last year when it was the mid-price option.
2. The iPhone 5c is attracting “new-to-iPhone” buyers — precisely what the company redesigned it to do.
3. A paid-for analytics firm saying that a cheapie iPhone is “stunting” Apple’s growth is not the same thing as that being true. Again, look at the sales — the iPhone line is UP in sales, margins are UP, the holiday season was an all-time record-breaker, foreign iPhone markets are UP, and last but not least — Apple actually TOLD analysts that they deferred $2B in sales (mostly iPhones) till next quarter. Had they not done that, they would have met the expectations.
Apple has never pursued — and appears to actively dislike — the low-end crowd where price is the only consideration. Very wisely, in my opinion, as those customers are very “costly” on the back end. Just because Wall Street thinks Apple should chase them now just to pump up unit number simply reveals their fundamental misunderstanding of what Apple does (a fact Tim Cook had to explain to questioners TWICE during the phone call … after 30 years … sigh).
PS. Now, then … does that sound like a company that is planning to get rid of the iPhone 5c (and replace it with … what exactly?) in six months to you?
I’ve always wondered whether apple released the 5C as a way to drive the sales of the 5S. it perfectly captures and takes advantage of people’s mentality that since the price difference between the two is only $100 and the 5C is not as visually-appealing, one’s instinct would be to spend that extra $100 to get the 5S.
nyang yes I agree what you say, not as fancy as that in binjangkan by some quarters around the world.
fancy just a beautiful woman
I don’t understand why people/bloggers are still saying that iPhone 5c as a “low cost” iPhone. Apple didn’t change their pricing point at all. The iPhone 4S was at the exact same price point when the iPhone 5 was released, and the 4 when the 4S was released. It’s not a “low-cost” nor a “misjudgment.” Did anybody say the 4S and 4 were mistakes when they were set at the same price point? No.
“Low cost” in regards to a brand new, current year release device. Apples previous model was selling the previous years device at the 2nd tier price point. The 5c, replaced the previous year model, which would have Ben the iPhone 5, in that pricing model. Apple never launched two brand iphone devices simultaneously, until last year.
The 5c was the “lower cost”, lower quality(materials(plastic) and specs) of the two devices launched last year, the 5s being the premium speced and premium priced device.
Correction: Apple never launched two brand NEW iphone devices simultaneously, until last year.
I think the problem was the global pricing strategy: if you exclude the U.S. where contract purchases are popular, in most countries (I have direct knowledge about Europe) the iPhone 5c is extremely expensive in absolute value: a 100$ may be a significant difference in the U.S. where you can get the 5s for as little as 200$, meaning the iPhone 5c will cost 50% less and will be classified as “entry level”, but here in Europe, where contract-free purchases prevail, you’ll have to pay at least 600€ to get your hands on the colorful, plastic model. At that point, you’ll probably want to pay the difference and go for the top level model. And even when subsidized purchases are available, carriers don’t really set a large spread between the two models, driving you towards the iPhone 5s.
Wow lots of ranting. People put your thinking to good use for you! Rambling on about the obvious pros and cons of Apples choices is dull. You’ll never have the same data and research that they have.
No, we don’t. What we do have is the benefit of hindsight. We aren’t trying to predict the future here. We are deconstructing what happened in the past.
The facts are that the 5c did not sell as well as Apple thought it would. That tells us that despite having all of that data and research Apple made the wrong call.
So, the question is why?
Personally, I think that it relates to Apple’s biggest problem. They don’t seem to have any clue how most families work. You can see this in all sorts of areas, from the problems with family iTune’s accounts and linking, to the issue of kids and in-app-purchases, to even the idea of creating a phone that appeals to kids and then pricing it at a level that most parents are not going to spend on a phone for a kid.
Low price ? i was in the queue in Belfast for the launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c and nobody in the queue was buying a iPhone 5c cause it was only £80 cheaper why would you bother i asked loads of people and it was iPhone 5s is why they were there like myself
The 5c and the 5s are too closely priced for most buyers to opt for the C. On this aspect, Apple should have made the C a lil cheaper, not the S a lil more expensive.
For the next generation, I suspect the successor of the 5c will be a plastic 5s and slightly cheaper (than today’s 5c) and the successor of the 5s will be marketed as a new product class. Something in the phablet range, 5-6 inches, more expensive than the 5s, aluminum shell or whatever fancy they come up this time around and probably with a different branding (makes sense given the current C and S suffixing mess).
iPhone Air anyone?
The concept of the 5c was a good one. The execution of the 5c was a mistake.
They should have made the 5s and sold it at the $649/$749/$849 price point that they did. Then, they should have kept the 5 and priced it at the $549/$649 price point that they sold the 5c. (The same strategy that they have used for years.)
The 5c should have been a replacement for the 4s. They should have stuck the guts of the 4s, with perhaps a few minor upgrades and a lightning port. Then they could have priced it at the $450 price that they sold the 4s.
Trying to pass of the 5c as the second tier phone was their mistake. It should have been the third tier phone.
I think it’d be smart if they pop an A7 chip in the 5c and sell it for zero dollars on contract when the new iphone(s) come out
I think $AAPL is getting off track with the iPhones and will eventually lose ground to their competitors if they don’t stay focused.. They have a great product but instead of focusing on more important details such as phone SIZE and the OS to keep them competitive with Samsung and others, they are producing small colorful plastic phones.
The 5C is not a failure. The 5s was just too compelling to pass up for $100. iPhone users are savvy and appreciate features. I never understood why anyone would buy a year-old phone to save $100 when they’re going to be paying thousands of dollars over the next few years using it. I future-proof my purchases as much as possible. This is kind of a no-brainer.
If the phone was actually cheaper it would have captured the low end smart phone market, but instead they’ve priced the 5C the same as last year’s iPhone 5 and made the 5S more expensive just to make the 5C cheaper. It really doesn’t fool anyone. Apple have to realise that first time smart phone buyers will commonly just go for the cheapest thing, which is almost always an Android handset.