Any reasons as to why the iPhone 5C isn't cheap

[Apple Blogger]

They haven't said what the C is .. It could be cheap, china, colour, cost, etc. but it's an iPhone 5 in plastic with just a $100 reduction.
All my friends were very exited for this phone but I had told them that apple would never reduce the prices of the new phone to capture markets. I was thinking it would cost around $349 starting price as they did with the iPad mini costing $329 but it seems they've gone too far and priced it $549.
In what world would we buy a plastic iPhone that costs just $100 less than aluminium. There is a $99 cost for contract but that's in USA and not in other countries.
They have a very high profit margin on a phone which is very cheap. The moment I saw the price I remembered john scully and the way he priced the products. The 5C should not be for profits but to capture markets, once they've done that, they can get profits automatically.

The only reason for such a high cost I can think of is because the price of dollar has gone up whole the value of yuan and rupee and other currencies have gone down. So if it cost less in china(the manufacturers) then they get it cheap but if the Chinese manufactures increase their prices then it's obvious apple would do that.. So if they want to sell it in other countries they need to see the exchange rate and the future rates. But considering all this, $549 is still way to high for a company who has all alluminim products and only 1 plastic flagship product.
If anyone has any other reason, it would be nice to learn it.

 

[Richard Devine]

iPhone 5c was never "as in cheap" - so what? | iMore

 

[theKHMERboy]

The only thing I see about the iPhone 5c is that it has a plastic back which can make the phone less expensive but other then that it's just basically an iPhone 5 with a low cost finishing which can make it more affordable for some people..

 

[anon(27512)]

Apple never said it was going to be cheap. Analysts and bloggers got it wrong.

This. Apple doesn't do cheap. They make quality products and charge a fair price for what you get.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Degradation to the brand is not what Apple was ever looking for, and a "cheap" iPhone (by industry standards) would have done just that. This IS the "cheap" iPhone, meaning that it's cheaper than the premium line device in the 5S, and is an offering that can be marketed as an entry level model. Apple is a luxury brand, the entire line of products they offer follow this idea, and honestly, the only reason the 5c was ever considered the "cheap" model was because that is what the bloggers and rumor mill speculators referred to it as.

I think "Entry Level" is a more appropriate terminology in this case, because it's sure as hell not cheap.

 

[Fausty82]

Remember, this whole "cheap" thing is the creation of the bloggers and talking heads. Apple never said anything about "cheap" or iPhones for "developing nations"... more spin doctors running amok. And now it’s Apple's fault.

Ya gotta love it...

 

[cardfan]

It's a less expensive iphone. And not everyone got it wrong. Rumors had it replacing the iphone 5. It rumored to be called the iphone 5C. This wasn't rocket science. Bloggers and talking heads that don't understand Apple's business model of course got it wrong.

 

[YorkieRay]

I don't think that anyone would ever say that the iPod Touch was a lesser Apple product and Steve Jobs himself called it, "the iPhone without a contract".
I think that the iPod Touch actually has a classier finish and look than the 5C and can do almost everything that the 5C can do with the same OS, though with lower specs.
A 32GB iPod Touch costs $299, a 32GB iPhone 5C costs $649. We know that the most expensive part, the screen, is identical and that the plastic case on the 5C could not have cost that much to make.
You could buy 2 iPod Touches for the price of a 5C and still have plenty of change left over.
So, could someone please tell me exactly what it is that you get for that extra $350 for the iPhone 5C and why it is worth it.

 

[kch50428]

So, could someone please tell me exactly what it is that you get for that extra $350 for the iPhone 5C and why it is worth it.

The cell phone radio circuitry... and the licenses for patents incumbent therein... the development and production of new machines for the manufacturing of the back shell... and Apple's margin.

 

[Grabber5.0]

Apple's margin totally makes it worth it.

 

[trebor8806]

First of all, the C stands for "Color" or "Colorful." Visit apple.com and you'll notice that first hand.

Secondly, the iPad mini doesn't have a retina screen which will lower the cost. The 5C has a retina screen plus the cell phone radio circuitry, etc., as kch mentioned above.

And the 5C is not a flagship device. As others have stated, call it "Entry-level."



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[avmsam]

Apple never said it would be cheaper. The rumour-mill & wall st did. Much in the same way they said the iPad "needed" to be cheap for it to sell well.

Apple doesn't do cheap. They do less expensive for a different market segment. Look back to the iPod nano and iPad mini for examples.

 

[Ipheuria]

Everyone assumed that the 5c was to be a cheaper phone to rival cheap Android devices. The problem there is that the difference between Android devices and the iPhone makes them use different strategies. Google provides the OS to manufacturers for free. The reason is the OS brings more users to their services which is where they make their money. So the difference is Google doesn't care about the heavy saturation of the market. When everyone owns an Android device and stops buying devices it's the manufacturers that don't make any money. As long as those users are still using Google's services Google will continue to make money. Where Apple makes the hardware and OS. So if the 5c was "cheap" the majority of people would buy that over the 5s which would drag down profits. The stock gets hammered now imagine the first year they had declining profits? The Apple is doomed stories would really pick up steam. Also once the market is full of 5c devices then what? The majority of regular users don't upgrade yearly or even every two years. Once in awhile I see people with 3Gs iPhones. Plus what everyone has already mentioned about Apple not doing cheap products. The 5c might not be cheap off contract but at $99 on contract and with a plastic casing this becomes an easy buy for parents to give their kids/teens.

 

[Apple Blogger]

Valid reason .. But I don't think people will keep a phone longer than 2 years as they do now, and what if apple decides to discontinue the 5C after 2 years and not 3..

 

[YorkieRay]

The cell phone radio circuitry... and the licenses for patents incumbent therein... the development and production of new machines for the manufacturing of the back shell... and Apple's margin.

Yup, I had a feeling that Apple's margin just might be some part of that huge difference in price between the iPod and the 5C.

 

[meashishnd]

its not cheap phone as every one think it .... apple made unique & unbeatable device... no one can competitor beat them ....
IPhone 5c is innovative and imaging product from apple so this will never be cheap ...low costing like this gorgeous device...
apple give happiness with colorful and gorgeous gadget

 

[Rockdog97]

after holding my cousin's new 5C, i can attest that it aint "Cheap." it feels awesome actually! Has a comfortable feel and not "plasticy."

 

[lush242000]

It feels better than my 4s did.


Sent from somewhere.

 

[Derrick4Real]

It isn't cheap because apple made a calculation that they can make more money with a higher margin not cheap 5c than they could with a lower margin cheap 5c and likely more market share in Chinese and Indian markets.

Time may or may not prove them wrong. We may never have a definitive answer because unless they are a complete flop we won't know if they would have made more money off a lower margin phone making the difference up i volume. And it's really just a math game. Say, you say 30 million non-cheap 5cs. Maybe you would have sold 40 mill cheap 5cs. Whether the latter is a good deal is a function of whether it turns more profit. Years down the line we may find out hey, that was the moment they should have gone for market share, like say microsoft did with windows. Ended up Microsoft dominated computer software. But right it's not clear if they made the right or wrong decision.

 

[Christopher Alexander1]

Apples prices are almost never fair, which is especially evident by their high margin price on memory increases for iOS devices.