Update: Apple has now added the 8 GB 5c to its European online stores. In the UK, the device is priced at £429 unlocked — a difference of £40 between it and the 16 GB model. It will likely appear on the U.S. site in the coming hours. It appears limited to the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and China.
Earlier today, we reported that Apple was planning release an 8 GB version of the iPhone 5c to help support the phone’s lagging sales. Now it seems that U.K. carrier O2 has made that plan official by releasing the phone for sale on its website. At the time of this writing, it has not appeared on any U.S. carriers’ stores nor the Apple website.
Aside from the reduced capacity offering, there aren’t any changes to the device. This new 8 GB model seems to be designed to help pick up a few more sales in the low-cost phone arena where the 8 GB iPhone 4s may have seemed like a much less attractive device. The newer version includes Apple’s custom dual-core A6 processor, an 8 MP iSight camera, and FaceTime HD camera.
The O2 site indicates the 8 GB iPhone 5c will be available for approximately £409 off-contract, which is £60 cheaper than the 16 GB model. This is based on the highest-cost Pay Monthly option, which normally closely matches the off-contract.
The U.K. Apple Store currently shows a third, blank space on the iPhone 5c capacity selection page (shown above), indicating that a third version is coming soon. The U.S. store doesn’t show the third space yet, though the phone is expected to be available in the United States later today.
Update 2: Apple offered Recode the following:
“The mid-tier iPhone segment is growing year-over-year and the 8GB model provides a more affordable option for markets where LTE is becoming more established,” an Apple representative told Re/code. The iPhone 5c, unlike the iPhone 4s, which is also still sold, supports LTE networks.
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apple is just getting rid of the dock connector…
8GB… Still forces you to take 1080p video.
>>forces
Does that FUD taste good?
Yep, that’s what consumers wanted. Less storage. You nailed it Apple!
>>I don’t comprehend the market for this device.
Thanks for telling us.
The £410 is actually £100 cheaper than the comparable price for the 16GB
It’s in the UK Apple Store now at £429 – only £40 cheaper than the 16GB.
And on the German and French store. Not on others as far as I can see.
Its available now: http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-iphone/iphone5c
Still not cheap enough – it needs to be nearer £350 GBP to really sell !
Its still a premium price for a sub-premium product.
This is just disappointing. Who in 2014 will get 8gb iPhone? Seriously? 8gb, from which only 6,5 are real. That’s a joke. I really hope that iPhone 6 will get rid off 16 and go 32/64/128. It makes so much sense.
Cook is pressed, obviously, to go margins. Sad but true. 16 still makes some sense, but 8 is really not enough these days.
Says the power user. But there’s many out there that only download 3 apps, check one email address and barely take photos. They want an easy to use phone that’s cheap. They want to be able to communicate with their family easily and no one wants to teach them to use something different than what they have (everyone in my family has iPhone. My mom doesn’t need a 16 or 32 GB but a flip phone is too simple. This works perfect.)
Power User? No! I unfortunately helped a very non-power user buy an 8GB iPhone last year. Bad move on my part. Very bad move. Apple needs to lower the price of the 16GB model if they really want to move phones. This move will only make the 5c an even worse choice. And get rid of the 4 completely, then the 5c will sell like it should.
“They want an easy to use phone that’s cheap”.
Nail on. Unfortunately iPhone 5c is neither easy to use (for a non-power user) nor cheap.
iPhone 5c is never going to work. It is an expensive phone that is branded as a cheap phone. People who can afford an expensive phone wont buy it because they don’t like to be seen as cheap. People who can’t afford an expensive phone wont be able to afford it. It is really the worst phone you can buy.
I’m not sure how the 5c is any different than Apple selling the previous gen phone for 100$ less as they have done every other year? The only difference is that it has a pretty color case. People buy previous gen iPhones every year for the past 4 years. Are they best sellers? Never. But would you rather buy a phone you know was designed last year or the one from this year w last years specs? Possibly.
As far as iPhone being easy to use, that’s subjective. But ive seen plenty of non tech generation users handle it with ease. Some, not so easy. But most find it a breeze to work with.
Or, you know, maybe you could take five seconds and look at the target market for the device.
I guess you whined when Apple released the iPod shuffle and it was smaller than the proper iPod. You were confused and hurt as to why that would be.
I agree, with iPhone 6 they should double the storage keeping the same price. 16GB would be ok for a 5s or 5c only replacing the 4s.
Very strange move by Cupertino. Also strange they’re not releasing this in India?