iPhone 5C Price Barrier to Better Sales: Being Phased Out By Apple?
The iPhone 5C has long been referred to as a colorful "budget" smartphone with a premium price. Its price prevented it from being adopted in markets in developing countries where cheaper Android devices are all the rage.
Recently rumors have surfaced indicating that production of the iPhone 5C will be shut down.
News of the shutdown was first reported by MacRumors, which quoted a report that was published in Taiwan's Industrial and Commercial Times. According to it, Foxconn and Wistron, which are responsible for manufacturing the iPhone 5C, will begin slowing production on the model and finally stop sometime in the middle of 2015.
When the iPhone 5C was launched last year by Apple, the company labeled it as a cheaper version of the costlier premium iPhone 5. However, the retail price during its launch was around $549, which meant it was much costlier than other budget phones from Samsung and Motorola.
Its high price and its plastic body were reasons why users preferred to spend $100 more to get the iPhone 5s. Since its launch last year, the price of both the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S have fallen. Currently many carriers offer the iPhone 5C for free when it is coupled with a two-year contract. In comparison, the iPhone 5S now sells for $99.
Additionally, the sales of the iPhone 5C were lukewarm since its launch. In the beginning of this year, a research report released by CIRP showed that among all the iPhone versions, the iPhone 5C accounted for just 27 percent of the sales. On the other hand the iPhone 5S contributed to around 59 percent of all iPhones sold.
However, others have noted that the iPhone 5C actually outsold its Android competitors in the last quarter of the 2013 and that its sales even picked up in the first quarter of this year.
