[www.valuewalk.com]

I think the headline is misleading... the ration of 5S to 5C is almost 2:1

The Localytics report showed that the iPhone 5s makes up about 3.8% of the population of active iPhones out there. the iPhone 5c makes up just 1.7% of the population according to the report. The most popular Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) smart phone is the iPhone 5, which holds 39.8% of the market.

The rest of the list is made up of the iPhone 4s at 32.9%, the iPhone 4 at 20.2%, and other iPhones at 1.6%. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) clearly does an excellent job of getting its latest iPhone to the front of the pack extremely quickly, but the iPhone 5c numbers probably represent a worry for investors.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 03:39PM by space-time.

If investors weren't so damn stupid and got their heads out of their asses they would realize that NO ONE WANTS WILL ACTUALLY BUY A CHEAPER PHONE FROM APPLE. Once you are spending the money, the extra $100 or $200 doesn't matter to 90% of the people. If someone wants a cheap phone they will buy an Andriod phone.

It does Apple no good to try and go after the lower end of the market. This proves it. I have no idea why people seem to think that it would be amazing for Apple to make cheap phones.

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C(-)ris
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 03:52PM by C(-)ris.

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C(-)ris
If investors weren't so damn stupid and got their heads out of their asses they would realize that NO ONE WANTS WILL ACTUALLY BUY A CHEAPER PHONE FROM APPLE. Once you are spending the money, the extra $100 or $200 doesn't matter to 90% of the people. If someone wants a cheap phone they will buy an Andriod phone.

It does Apple no good to try and go after the lower end of the market. This proves it. I have no idea why people seem to think that it would be amazing for Apple to make cheap phones.

I agree with you mostly but since this phone isn't all that cheap I don't think it "proves" it.

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space-time
...but the iPhone 5c numbers probably represent a worry for investors.

I can tell you that I'm worried Apple has only sold 4.9 million iPhone 5c units in the last 4 weeks.

Oh, wait…



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 04:41PM by Article Accelerator.

The 5c needs to be a lot cheaper than the 5S for it to have a chance.
They should target the C to the prepaid market and sell it for full price of no more than $350, unsubsidized, or as others have said, don't offer it at all.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

AA, that was a quote from the article, not mine. Noticed the italics?

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space-time
AA, that was a quote from the article, not mine. Noticed the italics?

I know. I dropped the opening markup by mistake. Fixed now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 04:41PM by Article Accelerator.

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rgG
The 5c needs to be a lot cheaper than the 5S for it to have a chance.
They should target the C to the prepaid market and sell it for full price of no more than $350, unsubsidized, or as others have said, don't offer it at all.

I can understand this stance from the consumer perspective. But from Apple's perspective, this makes no sense at all.

As the article points out, the 5C is selling perfectly fine at a 1:2 ratio compared to the 5S. Apple is doing a fine job of pricing this to make profits. Despite sentiment and consumer wishes, they are not going for the low margin <$350 market.

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C(-)ris
If investors weren't so damn stupid and got their heads out of their asses they would realize that NO ONE WANTS WILL ACTUALLY BUY A CHEAPER PHONE FROM APPLE. Once you are spending the money, the extra $100 or $200 doesn't matter to 90% of the people. If someone wants a cheap phone they will buy an Andriod phone.

It does Apple no good to try and go after the lower end of the market. This proves it. I have no idea why people seem to think that it would be amazing for Apple to make cheap phones.

I'll buy a cheaper phone from Apple. Where is it?

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bhaveshp

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rgG
The 5c needs to be a lot cheaper than the 5S for it to have a chance.
They should target the C to the prepaid market and sell it for full price of no more than $350, unsubsidized, or as others have said, don't offer it at all.

I can understand this stance from the consumer perspective. But from Apple's perspective, this makes no sense at all.

As the article points out, the 5C is selling perfectly fine at a 1:2 ratio compared to the 5S. Apple is doing a fine job of pricing this to make profits. Despite sentiment and consumer wishes, they are not going for the low margin <$350 market.

I think that since there is only a $100 difference, they could sell those same people the 5S, in most of the cases, and since the S would supposedly be a higher profit item, they would be making the same or more and not have the hassle of another product. There isn't a big enough difference in either features or price, between the S and the C, IMHO.

Edit: also, I think the lack of stock for the S might be why some are going for the C and that when stock opens up on the S, the C will not sell as well as it is now, which will not be good at all.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 06:22PM by rgG.

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Black

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C(-)ris
If investors weren't so damn stupid and got their heads out of their asses they would realize that NO ONE WANTS WILL ACTUALLY BUY A CHEAPER PHONE FROM APPLE. Once you are spending the money, the extra $100 or $200 doesn't matter to 90% of the people. If someone wants a cheap phone they will buy an Andriod phone.

It does Apple no good to try and go after the lower end of the market. This proves it. I have no idea why people seem to think that it would be amazing for Apple to make cheap phones.

I'll buy a cheaper phone from Apple. Where is it?

They made one, it flopped horribly. No one bought it.

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C(-)ris
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Today, Apple said that the 5C is their mid-tier product, pawning off the 4S as being their entry level phone, which I think is an intriguing statement. And no, they still haven't made a cheap phone. So if they replace the 4S with something cheap, then they're competing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2013 09:35PM by vision63.

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Black
I'll buy a cheaper phone from Apple. Where is it?

Yeah. Me too. I don't like iOS well enough to want to pay a premium, but I would consider a mid range iPhone.

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vision63
I agree with you mostly but since this phone isn't all that cheap I don't think it "proves" it.

I don't agree with C(-)ris, but I also don't think it proves anything.

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C(-)ris
They made one, it flopped horribly. No one bought it.

When did this happen? Can't be the iPhone 5c as it sits at the same $550 tier as the last few "midrange" iPhone options.

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Article Accelerator
I can tell you that I'm worried Apple has only sold 4.9 million iPhone 5c units in the last 4 weeks.

Oh, wait…

Yeah, those numbers really aren't that bad.

Remember the iTunes phone? That is what you would get if you wanted a cheap iPhone. Probably a phone wrapped around a nano with basic functionality, no wifi.

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C(-)ris
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C(-)ris
Remember the iTunes phone? That is what you would get if you wanted a cheap iPhone. Probably a phone wrapped around a nano with basic functionality, no wifi.

The non Apple , Motorola one? Apple didn't make that phone, so no, we still haven't proved anything definitively. In my opinion.

If what you just described (nano based iPhone with no WiFi) is the best Apple can offer for $250 (original price of the ROKR) or $350 (price many people are suggesting), Apple should pack up their business and go home. Frankly, that's pathetic. There are sub $100 smartphones with WiFi currently on the market.

Amazon had the late 2012 Sony Xperia T LTE models for less than $300 a few months back. I would expect Apple could offer something similar in the $350 range. Essentially, Apple could move the 4S to that $300-350 price point and may people would be happy. iPhone 5c at $400-$450 would be icing on the cake. Flagship 5s, $600-$650 rounding out the high end.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2013 09:07AM by silvarios.

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silvarios


If what you just described (nano based iPhone with no WiFi) is the best Apple can offer for $250 (original price of the ROKR) or $350 (price many people are suggesting), Apple should pack up their business and go home. Frankly, that's pathetic. There are sub $100 smartphones with WiFi currently on the market.

What do you expect? You can't make a quality phone for cheap. Just isn't possible. Those sub $100 smart phones are piles of crap.

Chose 2: Price, Quality, and Features.

Apple is never going to make a poorly quality phone, their reputation depends on it. If they came out with a crappy cheap feeling plastic phone their stock would plummet.

Since this is the case, the only possible way you could ever get a cheaper iPhone would be if the feature set is greatly reduced and the interface made more basic. Hence the iPod nano with cellular, which is pretty much the only thing you can do at the sub $300 price point and still have the highest build quality and parts.

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C(-)ris
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C(-)ris
What do you expect? You can't make a quality phone for cheap. Just isn't possible. Those sub $100 smart phones are piles of crap.

Chose 2: Price, Quality, and Features.

Apple is never going to make a poorly quality phone, their reputation depends on it. If they came out with a crappy cheap feeling plastic phone their stock would plummet.

Since this is the case, the only possible way you could ever get a cheaper iPhone would be if the feature set is greatly reduced and the interface made more basic. Hence the iPod nano with cellular, which is pretty much the only thing you can do at the sub $300 price point and still have the highest build quality and parts.

Does it matter that many phones on the market prove this thesis is incorrect? Or is this an Apple specific inability? That Xperia T isn't a pile of crap. It wasn't a clear cut winner at the initial launch, but just under $300 at the end of it's life bought a heck of a lot of phone for most users. The Nexus 4 was another example. Certainly not perfect and in a vacuum, there were likely better phones, but when it came to bang for the buck, the Nexus 4 was up there.

No one is expecting iPhone 5s at $300, but the iPhone 4S is awfully overpriced at $450 given the specs. Seems like it could slot into that $300/$350 price point. The iPhone doesn't always have the highest build quality and parts. Typically it has lagged behind when it comes to radio technologies and the first three iPhones had pretty awful cameras. iPhones typically have less RAM as well.

You should check out a Lumia 520/521 if you want to see how far entry level smart phones have progressed. $100 buys you a lot of phone. It won't check every box when it comes to specs, but I think such devices are an eye opener for those of us coming from an Apple only world.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2013 02:10PM by silvarios.

I just realized you listed cheap feeling plastic phone which is amusing since the iPhone 3G/3GS were hardly premium feeling devices and the 5c might as well be a cousin to the Nokia 520/521. I get that some devices can feel or look more premium than others, but the candy colored Nokia "homage" of the 5c makes me wonder why iPhone fans have not backed off the whole cheap feeling plastic talking point.

As an example, the Galaxy S3 never felt that premium. Yes it was "plasticky", but it holds together awfully well and seems more comfortable in my hand than my metal iPod touch or Xperia Ion. Possibly even beats out my very nicely made Nokia N8* in comfort.

Seriously, the N8 with a better OS, well, better apps really, would have been a better phone than the iPhone 3GS and wasn't that bad even compared to the iPhone 4. I would have loved to see Maemo on the Nokia N8. The phone itself felt top notch. Great camera to boot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2013 02:21PM by silvarios.